Glass Distortions: An Abstract World

Many of the qualities I perceive in a beautiful piece of glass do not in fact exist: they are merely reflections of light. Much beauty in glass seems to appear from how it distorts and displaces the world around it. Glass is, of course, a transparent material – not to the degree of a diamond, the most transparent natural material there is, but transparent nevertheless. From this distortion of light arises the sensation of glass. Many aspects of glass are an illusion, and it is this illusion that I try to mimic in oil and canvas.

Glass is light. But it is not so much the light I paint, but rather the surrounding darkness that ‘reveals’ this light. The striations of glass can be complex but also exquisite and fascinating. These striations bring abstraction into a realist genre; this is where strange rhythms of light dance in complex passages. The light in glass feels like optimism, and when captured it brings an ethereal halo to its surrounding objects, enhancing their natural beauty. Glass also offers an interesting contrast to the softness of fruit. Glass is a hard, manmade material, and this property emphasises the soft, sensuous nature of its organic objects.

The sensation of movement caused by glass striations, such as the optical distortion of objects within it, further brings into contrast the stillness traditionally found in the still-life genre. Glass alters the reality of the objects within it, such that the things depicted are merely abstractions that do not actually exist. This is a reality which I control, through my choice of glass vessels and the objects within it; for each of these decisions determines the degree of distortion the viewer encounters. In places glass acts like a hyperrealist painter: it magnifies and exaggerates reality. Painting glass offers many technical challenges. It is like trying to catch water in a stream: when you think you have a grasp on it, it passes through your fingers. The best one can do in this grand illusion is merely to hint at the magic of this material.