Glass Act – Dale Chihuly’s “Glass in Bloom” exhibition opens in Singapore

“Oh, Kitty, how nice it would be if we could only get through into Looking-glass House! I’m sure it’s got, oh! such beautiful things in it!” – Lewis Carroll (Alice in Wonderland: Through the Looking Glass)

For years, Dale Chihuly has led the avant-garde in the development of glass as a fine art by reinventing natural and man-made environments with his experiments in light, space and form.

The artist’s remarkable work is featured in over 200 museum collections worldwide, earning him two fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and 12 honorary doctorates. His amazing exhibitions include Chihuly in the Light of Jerusalem in 1999; the Garden Cycle in 2001; New York Botanical Garden in 2006 and again in 2017; Chiluly Garden and Glass in 2012.

This year, Garden in Bloom is set to be Chihuly’s first major exhibition in Asia, featuring iconic large-scale installations at Singapore’s iconic Gardens by the Bay. Here we have curated a list for you to view his masterpieces beyond the confines of a gallery:

Red Garnet Baskets (2019)

A series of six Basket sets presented on a table and nine individually framed Basket Drawings dated from 1983 to 2011. The artist has revisited the Baskets’ original subdued earth tones by increasing the scale and with exuberant colors.

Drawings (Work on Paper)

His Drawings vary from light airy to bold colourful. He works with acrylic, watercolour, charcoal, graphite–even fire–to create his two-dimensional artworks.

Blue and Purple Boat (2006) & Float Boat (2014)

Glass-filled boats turned into wooden boats, inspired him when he was in Nuutajärvi, Finland.

Yellow Herons (2007), Tiger Lilies (2010), Pearl and Obsidian Fiori (2014) & Fiori Veri (2016)

A series of compositions that ranges from a few standalone forms to multiple elements. These are brought together in installations he calls Mille Fiori means a thousand flowers in Italian.

Glass on Glass

This masterpiece comprises three glass panels that are painted with vitreous-glass enamel; layered within a special frame to create a single unified vision. Visitors will be able to see the depth of each Glass on Glass composition when changing positions.

Ikebana

Ikebana is the art of Japanese flower arrangement. He focuses on assemblage; the artwork demonstrates the artist’s aspiration to move glass from the pedestal into the realm of large-scale sculpture.

Macchia Forests (2002 – 2019)

Macchia means “spotted” in Italian that inspired Chihuly to create a series of colour combinations, which this series is named. It involves creating a technique for applying a layer of white between colours to prevent them from blending.

Moon

Marks, the first presentation of the Moon since its premier 20 years ago in Jerusalem, it comprises hundreds of irregularly formed blown glass discs in hues of white, opal and rich blue.

Setting Sun (2020)

Chihuly’s iconic Sun artwork is a quintessential example of his daring approach to large-installations and lifelong interest towards architecture and the natural world. It varies from bold combinations of fiery orange, red and yellow to more subdued compositions of rich golds and clear glass forms.

Red Reeds, Turquoise Reeds, Red Bamboo and Neodymium Reed

Sizes vary from five to 10 feet tall, Reed series is known as the most dramatic blown glass forms. One glassblower is elevated in a mechanical lift to create the long, tubular shape.

Palazzo Ducale Tower (1996), White Tower (1997), Sea Blue and Green Tower (2004), Paintbrush Tower (2014) 
& Electric Yellow and Deep Coral Tower (2017)

Injecting life to the development of the Tower series, he creates large sculptures for spaces without ceilings or where the ceilings could not bear the weight of Chandeliers.

Walla Wallas

It is a large, spherical blown-glass floats with long glass tips, resembling and named for Eastern Washington’s famous Walla Walla onions.