Halcyon days with Chihuly: On light and colour #2
The glass artist Dale Chihuly is probably best known to a British audience for his 27-foot high chandelier which dominates the Exhibition Road entrance to the V&A. My first encounter, however, was at Kew Gardens, which staged an installation by Chihuly in 2005-6, mostly in the glasshouses nestled amonst the tropical foliage. It was a formative experience for me, when I saw how contemporary art could be incorporated into and enhance different historic environments. I was entranced by the vibrant forms and colours of Chihuly’s glass works, and have been ever since.
I was therefore very excited to discover that the Halcyon Gallery in New Bond Street, London, is hosting a large exhibition of Chihuly’s work, both glass pieces and paintings. It’s now been extended to 21st April, you should all go. The Halcyon Gallery is one of a number of commercial galleries that have chosen to open in dramatic historic spaces more akin to public galleries. The Haunch of Venison in the old Museum of Mankind would be another example (I think such a move makes the purpose of these galleries problematic, but that is the subject for another post). On entering the new Halcyon space you are met with the kind of piece that shouts Chihuly: bright red, orange and yellow glass shapes spilling out of a wooden boat. But this is also set off by more subtle chandeliers in translucent white glass that project wonderful shadows onto the wall. Downstairs, a mesmerising series of Persian-inspired assemblages of glass float on a black plinth down the centre of the room. Part sea creature, part rainforest plant, part oriental glassware, these pieces glow in the space. The accompanying paintings by Chihuly, which were new to me, take the same colour and energy onto the 2D page, although less successfully than the glass I felt. An awe-inspiring film on one wall shows the skill with which Chihuly and his team blow and spin huge sheets and bubbles of glass into these glorious works.
A quotation from Chihuly upstairs summed the show up for me: “I like to say I work with four mediums of any scale – glass, plastic, water and ice. But it is really light that makes those materials come alive.” It is, indeed, the lighting which makes these pieces glow with richness and depth. The sun and the water did this at Kew, and I realise that so many of the exhibitions that have stayed with me have involved such theatrical ‘setting’ of objects: Return of the Buddha at the RA, Pacific Encounters at the Sainsbury Centre UEA, Voyagers at the National Maritime Museum. This is what got me thinking about Twilight and the effects of lights and colours in how we respond to objects.
