[데일 치훌리의 유리조각들] 개인전 리뷰

살 빠지는 조각을 아시나요?!ㅎ

라스베가스 벨라지오호텔 로비 천정을 수놓은 멋있는 유리조각 ㅋ

그것을 만든 데일 치훌리의 처음이자 가장 큰 개인전이 롯데 에비뉴엘에서 진행중입니다 ^-^

 

Dale Chihuly's mesmerizing glass sculptures

 

Visitors look around Dale Chihuly`s exhibition [Avenuel]

At Avenuel in Sogong-dong, central Seoul, one will spot exquisite glass sculptures in every nook and corner from the basement to the fifth floor.

The works are by Dale Chihuly, the world renowned glass sculptor.

Also including his sculptures and drawings clustered at Lotte Art Gallery on Avenuel's 9th floor, a total of 79 pieces are on display at Avenuel for his biggest-ever solo exhibition in Korea.

Colorful yet lucid and lofty, the works perfectly match the posh shopping venue's high-end image.

"Too pretty? Too decorative? Too popular? Since when is that a problem?" Chihuly used to say when someone criticized his works.

Indeed, his works are very popular especially among fancy hotels and high-profile institutes. Some 200 museums and institutes throughout the world collected his work, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and Louvre Museum in Paris. His first signature gallery in Asia is situated in Macau, one of the richest tourist spots in the world.

His most famous work is "Fiori di Como," brilliant glass flowers that embroider the lobby's ceiling at the Belagio Hotel in Las Vegas.

It was once a fad among Korean bloggers to post a picture of the lobby on their blogs, because rumor had spread that the work "helps you lose weight just by looking at it."

Ironically, it is hard to match the beautiful works with the artist himself, as the strong looking 68-year-old man honestly appears far from "beautiful" or "fragile," with his signature black eye patch covering his left eye and all.

But some say that it was his troubled 30s that inspired him to create such beautiful works.

At 31, his studio caught fire and his entire body of work disappeared into ashes. Four years later, he was severely cut by glass in an automobile accident and had to get more than 250 stitches on his face. It was then that the black eye patch became his companion. Three years later he dislocated his shoulder while bodysurfing, and is thus no longer able to hold his glass blowing pipe.

These incidents ended up being rather fortunate for his fans, however, because through them Chihuly discovered more of his hidden talents.

To continue his work, Chihuly formed teams and hired others to blow the glass. He turned out to be a great director and his team made stunning new designs. He also found his gift for drawing as he relied on the medium to transmit his ideas to his teammates.

At this exhibition, 27 of the exhibits are his drawing works.

The exhibition is underway at Lotte Art Gallery inside Avenuel runs through Oct. 15 while the rest of the exhibits will be on display until Oct. 30.

For more information, call (02) 726-4428 or visit www.chihuly.com

(claire@heraldm.com)

By Park Min-young