Aphrodisia
Artist: Jay Musler (American, born 1949)
Date: 1996
Dimensions:
H: 51 in. (129.5 cm); W: 18 in. (45.7 cm); Depth: 11 in. (27.9 cm)
Medium: Glass; cut, sandblasted, and flameworked; with paint and metal.
Classification: Glass
Credit Line: Gift of Mr. and Mrs. William Block
Object number: 2003.65A-G
Label Text:After working as a glassblower for almost a decade, California-based artist Jay Musler developed an innovative approach to glassmaking in which he mixes techniques and materials to create complex, layered glass structures like Aphrodisia that stand out for their bold, eye-catching colors.
To construct this monumental work, Musler cut, flameworked, and sandblasted rectangular fragments of plate glass, painting each piece with oil paints and gluing them together into a lattice-like form. The result is a vibrant, textured surface that appears rich and lustrous, but obscures any sense of the material’s formerly liquid state. The variegated treatment of the color and surface of the glass seemingly absorbs and holds light within, rather than reflecting it back to the viewer.
Adorned with an embedded eye and strings of glass beads, Aphrodisia comes from Musler’s “Mask” series and recalls the mask-like forms he encountered while traveling in Mexico and Central America.
To construct this monumental work, Musler cut, flameworked, and sandblasted rectangular fragments of plate glass, painting each piece with oil paints and gluing them together into a lattice-like form. The result is a vibrant, textured surface that appears rich and lustrous, but obscures any sense of the material’s formerly liquid state. The variegated treatment of the color and surface of the glass seemingly absorbs and holds light within, rather than reflecting it back to the viewer.
Adorned with an embedded eye and strings of glass beads, Aphrodisia comes from Musler’s “Mask” series and recalls the mask-like forms he encountered while traveling in Mexico and Central America.
Not on view
In Collection(s)