Page 5 - Lino Tagliapietra Synchronicity

The singular selections from several different well-known and beloved series that make up the rest of the show are each independent marvels, yet, considered together, they offer a cohesive visual experience. These include a 2018 ‘Florencia’ bowl, its murrine “flowers” doubled as colored shadows on the pedestal; an extravagantly, almost impossibly long- necked ‘Dinosaur’ from 2017, and a ‘Mariposa’ (2008), in which a cloud of blue murrine seemingly flies upwards like butterflies on its delicately attenuated teardrop shape. Even the flat panels on view are clearly the work of the same sensibility. ‘Bombay’ (2015), its oranges reminiscent of the brilliant saffron hues common in India, was created through a complex, all day process requiring a team of six glassblowers. For more than a decade, Tagliapietra has been making such panels, which often evoke the light or atmosphere of specific locations. Here, a rectangle of pixelated, flowing images invokes fabric moving in water or air. Individual elongated shapes of color or pattern, familiar from other pieces, almost suggest the elements of a language that is moving so quickly its exact meaning can’t be read. Overall, the visual experience is truly sumptuous.
1 Murrine are patterns or images made by combining different colors of glass and pulling them out into a long thread or cane, then cutting the cane into thin cross sections.
2 Developed in Venice in the seventeenth century, this exotic kind of glass was discovered accidentally and is complicated to make, requiring the addition of copper and a long, slow cooling process.
Lino Tagliapietra | SYNCHRONICITY 5