Medium to Large Cast Lead Crystal Sculptures
It is with greatest pleasure that I share my work with you. This was the culmination of 3 years study 5 years of work, and a 20 year love affair with glass. It was wonderful to finally see my work in crystal and within this 'Real or Unreal World'.
Thanks to the great Glass Artists for their inspiration and to Lalique mentor and master and possibly the greatest jewellery designer of all times.
I don't know whether I may make anything in this style again though I truly love the process and thrill to find what happens at the end of its birthing. I have never consciously attempted to design any of these in a formal manner, they all just happened.
These works are of a most curious style. Independent from the fish that inhabitate these environments they truly are from another world. It is only the inclusion of a fish that gives them any credibility or a place in this world, fulfilling our need to justify why they exist.
As a wild life sculptor I crave the moment of a spontaneous creative act. A moment that sparks the innocence of discovery and provides a path for the unknown to become real. Sculpting wildlife on the other hand is a rather tedious and controlled period or act. These sculptures allow for the best of both worlds to become one.
They are first created as a wax sculptural form to be evaporated in the intense heat of a kiln which is "lost wax casting". Casting these objects in glass continues the process of discovery as it is very much in the hands of god. The only control that I might have is the colours I add yet what happens inside the mold as the glass is infused is totally unknown.
Generally the casting process takes 5 plus days, it is not until they have cooled from 840 C to room temperature that I can remove them from their plaster womb and truly find out what has become of it. There is a fatality factor which is beyond ones control as well.
This is why I love the act of creating these forms, I am only a vehicle for their birthing. Truly what is the creative act if it is not within an unconscious and fleeting moment yet caught in a tangible form for eternity.
Angel Fish
Crystal Rock Garden
In Hiding
Depicting nature is not seen or classified as "contemporary art". Highly Realistic Natural Art may also be considered "passé" (From Wikipedia) "Old-fashioned can refer to retro and outdated fashions, trends, music, and other activities or genres".
These sculptures have had a rather inglorious acceptance in the Australian Contemporary Glass world which I find amusing as we are surrounded by coral reefs. Depiction's of nature is normally tame and not thought provoking but does art always have to test us can it not be for the sake of pleasure or beauty?
Thankfully I got a completely positive response with the right people particularly in France and Venice (Murano) who live and breath Art Glass, it certainly does help to get positive feedback from ones peers.
Once it was impossible to sell abstraction's and call it Art yet now we are blind to anything which is not absolutely out there, bizarre, obscene or considered ground breaking i.e. "contemporary". It is purely natural for an artist to be influenced by the great abstractionist's of the past who changed the art world forever yet bring up Lalique and you may be defined as a fossil.
Why you never saw these works in any major specialised glass gallery in Australia is because they were not deemed to be "contemporary art" or "not fit in with the style" of the gallery. This is where the so called decorative arts and the critics who control what you the viewing public sees must be brought into question. There I have had my say, you work it out maybe, am I just another winging artist?
So much for being in a backwater and as far as I am concerned breaking new ground as I have never seen work similar to this style. These sculptures certainly succeeded in helping me learn something about casting glass.
