NEPTUNE BLUE SEAFORM, 2011
The Seaform series emerged from Dale Chihuly’s never-ending exploration to push the properties of molten glass. A “ribbing” effect created by an optic mold contributes to the aquatic silhouette of these flowing forms, making them appear suspended yet mobile, organic, and alive. Art critic Joan Seeman Robinson discusses this vital quality in the Seaforms: “Watching the process of glass blowing and the effect of gravity on the hot and supple materials is like witnessing a time-lapse recording of proliferating sea life, the glass forms germinating like palpable living organisms.”
An enigmatic underwater world is brought to light in the 2011 Studio Edition Neptune Blue Seaform. A skillful technique called “blow-through” creates an optical gradation effect that allows light to refract with clarity through the sculpture’s nearly translucent center to its deep indigo rim. Ribbons of mineral green rhythmically wrap the scalloping Seaform body. These subtle color effects are counterbalanced by a citron lip wrap.
The Neptune Blue Seaform Studio Edition measures approximately nine inches across and is engraved with Chihuly’s signature. Each Studio Edition is accompanied by a Plexiglas vitrine and a copy of Chihuly Seaforms, which includes forty-four full-color photographs and an essay by Joan Seeman Robinson.
Portland Press is pleased to present Neptune Blue Seaform, an inspired manifestation of art and imagery.
2011 Portland Press Studio Edition by Dale Chihuly, Photo: David Emery
WILD POPPY PERSIAN PAIR, 2011
When first exhibited in 1986 at the Louvre’s Musée des Art Décoratifs, Dale Chihuly’s vibrantly colored Persians resembled forms from an obscure past and from relics unearthed. Curator Tina Oldknow writes on the idiom from which these works emerged: “The earliest Persians looked ‘archaeological’ to Chihuly, like excavated treasures….Chihuly sensed that these objects represented a formal distinction in his art that was experimental, new, and exotic.” This provided the catalyst for the agile sweeping arcs and arabesques that would mark the spirit of the Persian series.
The Wild Poppy Persian Pair is a rush of sumptuous golden orange and oxidized browns. The addition of a reduction color, applied to both elements of this two-piece composition, creates a zephyr of shimmer that lends this 2011 Studio Edition an ‘exotic’ quality. The contrasting deep blue lip wrap emphasizes the expressive lines recurrent in Chihuly’s classic Persian form.
Measuring approximately eleven inches across, this signed handblown work is presented in a Plexiglas vitrine. The ensemble is completed by the Portland Press hardcover publication Chihuly Persians. This 104-page full-color book will enhance one’s understanding of this extraordinary series.
The Wild Poppy Persian Pair offers an enduring perpetuation of the past reflected in a contemporary sculpture.
2011 Portland Press Studio Edition by Dale Chihuly, Photo: David Emery
AZURE SEAFORM PAIR, 2011
Dale Chihuly, a native of the Pacific Northwest, grew up surrounded by the wondrous coastal isles and inlets of the Puget Sound. His association with the sea can be perceived in his Seaforms, a series with structural motifs found in marine life as well as on the surface of the water. Chihuly explains this relationship between the natural and the artificial: “It’s an interesting sort of sensation to be looking at what appears to be something under the water like a shell, yet it’s manmade. I love to juxtapose the man-made and the natural to sort of make people wonder, ‘Are they man-made or did they come from nature?’ That’s a very important part of my work.”
The Azure Seaform Pair is a two-piece composition that resonates with these reflective qualities of marine forms. A tidal cadence of turquoise along the mouth of the piece illuminates the bands of lapis strata that wrap the body. Set against these temperate tonalities, a radiant yellow lip wrap defines the folding contours of the body, accentuating the form articulated in this piece.
This handblown Studio Edition measures approximately ten inches across and arrives with a custom-designed display vitrine and Chihuly Seaforms, a book detailing the inspiration behind this series, with forty-four full-color photographs and an introduction by oceanographer Sylvia Earle.
The 2011 Portland Press Studio Edition Azure Seaform Pair, is a fluid expression of the aquatic translated through the artist’s chosen medium of glass.
2011 Portland Press Studio Edition by Dale Chihuly, Photo: David Emery
FIESTA MACCHIA, 2011
“It was the color we were concerned with: often bright, strange, mostly opaque, where the outside was dramatically contrasted with the inside,” recalls the artist Dale Chihuly. The Macchia series provides Chihuly’s intuitive eye for color with a continually endless palette from which to create and experiment. Works in this series have been described as “daring,” “textured,” and “vibrant.” In the words of former curator Henry Geldzahler, “You see color as you’ve never seen it before, as if color itself were floating in the air. It is an elevating experience.”
With an unrestricted palette, the 2011 Portland Press Studio Edition Fiesta Macchia articulates this masterful use of color throughout. From the bonfire of amber sparks that pepper a simmering adobe red to its interior patina of burnished orange, Fiesta Macchia expresses the series’ distinctive use of revelatory color. The flowing ripples of the Macchia are delineated by the chartreuse lip wrap extending onto the body and accentuating the dimensional texture of the piece.
Fiesta Macchia is accompanied by a specially designed vitrine and a copy of Chihuly alla Macchia, with images from the series and an essay by art historian Robert Hobbs. This handblown piece measures approximately ten inches in height and is signed by the artist.
A cache of prolific color, the Fiesta Macchia will add a dramatic presence to any fine art collection.
2011 Portland Press Studio Edition by Dale Chihuly, Photo: David Emery
