Venice. 3 Visions in Glass—Cristiano Bianchin, Yoichi Ohira and Laura de Santillana

This exhibition explores recent pieces by three of the leading artists working in glass today.

Collaborating with workshops on the island of Murano, a historic glass-making center in Venice, these artists have broken with tradition to produce unexpected forms, effects and moods. Visually dazzling and compelling, some pieces include abstracted brilliant cityscapes, while others are more contemplative and evocative of the watery city of Venice.

Cristiano Bianchin, a native Venetian, creates monochromatic vessels and sculptures often sheathed in crocheted hemp and adorned with found objects. Inspired by the timelessness of Venice, his most recent series of Urns convey historical antecedents and the passage of time yet with a modern approach.

Yoichi Ohira is a Japanese artist who has been working in Venice for more than 35 years. His works are an integration of Japanese aesthetics and traditional Italian glass techniques. Although the exhibition will include many works with vibrant colors, it will also display his recent Cristallo Sommerso series that uses colorless glass vessels to forge a dynamic tension between interior and exterior forms and spaces.

Laura de Santillana, also a native of Venice, designs works with a modernist perspective on sculptural compositions of shifting and pure color. Her Flags recall color field paintings, but the luminous quality of the surfaces transcend paint and canvas.

After the exhibition at The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, selected works will travel to The Naples Museum of Art in Naples, Florida from October 1, 2010–January 15, 2011 and then to the Museé des arts Décoratifs in Paris from March 23–September 4, 2011.

Courtesy of the artists and Barry Friedman Ltd. This exhibition is supported by the Campbell-Calvin Fund and Elizabeth C. Bonner Charitable Trust for exhibitions