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| "Origins II..." |
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| "Middle Horizons...Looking South" |
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| "A Greater Volume..." |
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| "Artifact of the Curious..." |
A Transcendent Materiality
By Tom Wachunas
“Quality is never an accident; it is always
the result of high intention, sincere effort, intelligent direction and
skillful execution; it represents the wise choice of many alternatives, the
cumulative experience of many masters of craftsmanship…” - John Ruskin
“… Art is all about craftsmanship. Others
can interpret craftsmanship as style if they wish. Style is what unites memory
or recollection, ideology, sentiment, nostalgia, presentiment, to the way we
express all that. It's not what we say but how we say it that matters.” - Federico Fellini
EXHIBIT: The Matrix Series: Glass Art of Brent Kee
Young, at the Canton Museum of Art, THROUGH
MARCH 3, 2019 / 1001 Market Avenue North Canton, Ohio / 330.453.7666 /
Viewing hours: Closed Mondays; Tuesday, - Thursday - 10:00am - 8:00pm; Friday
& Saturday - 10:00am - 5:00pm; Sunday - 1:00 - 5:00pm
video of Brent Kee Young process:
Our most compelling
artists can often transform their chosen raw materials with what seems to be
pure magic. In examining such skillful articulations, our careful looking can
in turn become a profoundly transcendent experience. A spiritual encounter. That’s
certainly what can transpire when encountering the exquisitely crafted
sculptures by Brent Kee Young.
His raw materials
are pencil-thin rods of flame-worked borosilicate glass. The radiant
constructions here were inspired by iconic artifacts and ceremonial objects
from Asian and Wari (a pre-Columbian civilization that flourished from about AD
500 to 1000 in what is now Peru) cultures.
What wizardry is
this…this uncanny union of cultural histories, science, engineering, and poetic
vision? Looking at these objects, the very air itself – inside and outside
their labyrinthine configurations – becomes a tangibly contoured and volumetric
element. There are forms embedded in forms - 3D echoes or permutations that
enhance their spatial depth and evoke a sense of timelessness. These wondrous
webs of glass seem to breathe when moving around them, and are all the more
enlarged by the elegant gallery lighting that casts their diaphanous shadows on
to pedestals and floor.
Enlarged indeed, in
their gossamer-like translucency, there’s nonetheless a solidly architectural
sensibility to these works - one that held me spellbound and transported in
rapt attention to memories of unique realities as well as fantasies. I thought
of Gothic cathedrals and the glow of candlelight dancing on glittery
reliquaries; of prisms and ice castles and moonlight glistening on snow; even
the dazzling complexity of our brains’ chemical synapses and neuro-
transmission junctures. Yikes – all this
and more just from the shapes of a few urns and bowls.
At one point, the intersecting
clusters of crystalline, light-bearing tendrils that comprise these enthralling
vessels caused me to recall a personally cathartic moment from many years ago
here in Ohio winter. Stepping outdoors one blustery morning after an ice storm,
I looked into the woods behind my house. I was instantly drawn to a marvelous
sound carried on the wind as it whistled through myriad ice-laden branches.
They were so many sparkling lines, as if each was encased in a sleeve of glass,
all etched into a sunlit sky, and all flapping together to make a joyful a
noise. It sounded just like… applause. Pure magic.
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