Dale Chihuly

I figure that if I do one blog post a night I should be able to get this assignment done by the end of December.  I really like that the blog assignment is due after the stop animation film.  I think that is HUGE. Also, I did not do any over break because turkey makes me sleepy.  

I don't know if Dale Chihuly is viewed by the art community the same way that a Jeff Koons is or not.  They are both extraordinarily successful artists (I think you know you have made it in the art world when you are in the process of suing or being sued), but just looking at Chihuly's background and credentials I personally think he is pretty legit.  He has studied in Europe, taught, established a glass school, and has pretty much created and dominated the avant-garde glass work field.  Similarly to Koons, he no longer has as much of a physical presence in his work as he did in his younger days, but unlike Koons, Chihuly lost an eye and all of his shoulder strength in two separate accidents preventing him from blowing glass.

Chihuly's work is innovative, striking, beautiful and thought provoking.  He has several different exhibition  themes, but the ones I really love and really want to discuss are his garden and green house exhibitions.  I love the idea of these glistening and brightly colored organic forms popping up from the ground, or out of pools of water and looking both completely at home in their environment and yet completely fantastical at the same time.

Scorpion Tails and Bamboo 2008,  Dessert Botanical Garden, AZ

Purple Frog Foot Installation 2004, Atlanta Botanical Garden, GA

Tiger Lilies 2005, Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden, FL

Yellow and Red Striped Herons 2005, Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden, FL 

So Great!  These sculptures all come from Chihuly's glass series called "Flori," Italian for flower of course.  And specifically they are in the "outdoor series".  I think I like the this particular sub series the best out of all of his works.  This series speaksto me and stimulates my imagination the most.  The glass really does fit in perfectly with the environments seen here.  Extreme environments such as rain forests and deserts are host to such amazing flora anyway that at times Chihuly's work almost complements the the other plants more than it promotes itself.  I saw this especially in the desert botanical garden.  Even though Chihuly is old and fat now and way to rich and has a wife that is waaaayyy to hot and young for him, I still really love his work.