ADAM AARONSON

Artist’s Statement
June 2010
I am often asked where the inspiration for my work comes from and I usually respond that the ideas are never in short supply; the hard part is reaching the point where it is possible to realise them! It has taken some time to build up to the large scale blown glass vessels of my current work. These forms are physically challenging to make and required lengthy experimentation to achieve the right level of control over the colouring process. Now I can work as freely in glass as I might on canvas and it is completely liberating, a bit like learning to ski and suddenly reaching the point where one can ski off-piste.

For some time my artworks have been moving away from functional forms and have been created to explore the potential of the glass object. In reassessing expectations of vase, cylinder and vessel, I have been developing shapes that act as a raw canvas for the surface imagery. The large scale and dramatic forms of these works are intended to have a primitive quality that preserves the fluidity inherent in the glass medium.

I am inspired by the ceaseless mutability of light on the landscape, the sky and on water. I am fascinated by horizons, the vanishing point where the land merges with the sky. Glass is the ideal medium to express this idea of continual change since its properties are inherently mutable, not only in its molten state but also in the way the play of light creates endless nuances in the finished piece.

Sunsets never cease to enthral me and are a rich source of inspiration. As I write, the sun is beginning to set over the Thames. The view from my window is of black water, shot through with myriad shades of grey, brown, and green, constantly shifting and shimmering with streaks of lemon, champagne and gold, interspersed with flashes of silver. Minutes later, the water is turning red and yellow, reflecting the bright colours of the industrial buildings on the far shore. Suddenly, under the overcast sky, hints of apricot and duck egg blue miraculously appear upstream as the sun makes a last effort to penetrate the clouds.

It is these fleeting moments that I try to capture in my work, which can be seen as a collage of memories. I prefer to work spontaneously, beginning with an outline in my mind’s eye, but this usually evolves as I am working. This evolutionary process is controlled and each piece informs the next.

The making process that I have developed, the “late colouring” technique, has parallels in enamelling, ceramic glazing, printing and painting. Everything happens with the glass on the iron between 500º and 1100º. My palette consists of powdered glass colours, which I lay out on a steel table. The full size hot glass vessel, which has been covered in silver leaf, is rolled over the powders, picking up the first of several layers of colour. Reheating melts the colours
onto the surface, and I apply more colours directly onto the vessel, again reheating at each stage to build up tone and texture. When the colours are red-hot they are indistinguishable, so remembering which colour is where, and its intensity, is a bit like a composer writing music, knowing how chords will sound together.

I like the ambiguity of colour and contrast, the way in which, for example, a swathe of bright red in a landscape or sunset can be read as fire or flower by different viewers. In fact, even though I give each artwork a title that reflects my own perception and inspiration, observers may find themselves recalling moments in time within their own “imaginary landscapes,”

Please contact us for other available works
info@jsauergallery.com