Page 7 - Montague Gallery Lino Tagliapietra Show

series, developing form and color through multiple iterations. Five pieces from the series titled Florencia, for instance, are covered with a free-form pattern of lush, exuberant growth, created with a murrini that suggests a stylized, modernized version of the fleur de lis of Florence. Some pieces are named for places he has visited — like the graceful white bowl covered with black, almost calligraphic marks included here, titled Taipei. Some names are suggested by the work’s shapes, like Angel Tear. Two examples from his well-known Dinosaur series are included in this show, extending their impossibly long, slender necks upwards in a way that is extraordinarily graceful. One of these Dinosaurs, dating from 2019, is a textbook example of how sculpture must be experienced from all sides to be fully appreciated. On one side, its looping neck and ovoid ‘body’ are a cloudy, swirling mixture of blue and white with hints of fuchsia — the murrini’s finger-like pattern stretching upwards into a series of tiny, thread-like lines of color that parallel the complex curves of the neck. Walking around to the other side, though, reveals a completely different color combination of red, green and golden brown, an astonishing feat of legerdemain. ”In his work, it is also difficult, if not impossible, to separate the design stage from the technical-experimental, in that he thinks in glass; that is, he conceives the work not only in terms of its aesthetic qualities but simultaneously in the methods of its production.” 1 Glassblowing requires a demanding set of physical skills, both physical and mental, not to mention extensive planning and foresight in tandem with acting in the moment in response to the molten material. This can include making the delicate murrini — a demanding, time-consuming process — or preparing other elements that will be used in creating the color on the outside of the piece. All this must take place before the first gather of glass out of the furnace. Maker and team bring years, if not decades, of education and experience to that brief period of highly-choreographed intense activity that is required to make each piece. In 1979, already well-known in his field, Tagliapietra made his first trip to the US to share his knowledge with students at Pilchuck, the now-legendary summer school in Washington. He has returned many times, contributing almost inestimably to the emergence of glass as a material used broadly in contemporary art and insuring that there will be successive generations of glass artists. Having established a studio in Seattle, he now divides his time between there and Murano. Now in his mid-80s, he continues to innovate, creating both individual gallery pieces and large installations. On Murano, a tiny island in the Venetian lagoon, the water is never far away. In San Francisco, we are close to the ocean as well, being surrounded on three sides by water. The extraordinary light that Tagliapietra noted is in part a consequence of this proximity. The irrepressible energy, timeless beauty and intricate explosions of color that characterize his work seem to belong here, as apt metaphors for New World innovation: but they are the result of centuries of Old World knowledge, interpreted by a gifted visionary. Angel Tear 1 Rosa Barovier Mentasti, ed., Lino Tagliapi2e0tr0a7: F|ro1m2 Mx u1r3anxo1t8o” Studio Glass, 1954-2011 (Marsilio, 2011) Lino Tagliapietra | Radiance 7