BERTILVALLIEN journey of the soul
SCHANTZ GALLERIES
BERTILVALLIEN
“Knowing the exact moment at which to capture a shift of light or expression and wrench the secret from the glass is what it’s all about…” Bertil Vallien
journey of the soul SCHANTZ GALLERIES October 4 - November 3, 2019
We are very pleased to share this exhibition of the art of Bertil Vallien. The works in this catalog include his newest unique, sand cast sculptures, blown vessels, and a series of his limited-edition prints, the first time he has exhibited his two-dimensional work in the USA. We would like to acknowledge Bertil’s great contribution to developing the medium of glass as an artform, which began in 1963 when he was invited to the Åfors Glass Factory. Bertil’s work as an innovator has been instrumental to the development of the medium as an art form. His influence has had a profound effect on generations of artists through his teaching in Sweden, the U.K., and at U.S. institutions — Rhode Island School of Design, Urban Glass in NYC and The Pilchuck Glass School — where he has taught throughout the past 30 years. Bertil’s work is transcendental in nature — imagined journeys which take us into the realm of the subconscious. His metaphysical Boats transport universal images, and these archetypal symbols speak on a primal level. The results are almost alchemical transformations, spanning from the primary material of sand, to the ethereal qualities of light transference through glass, to that of stone and metal. He continues to explore the range of possibilities of sandcasting techniques through continuous experimentation while advancing his artistic language. Thank you Bertil for your great contribution to the arts. We are thankful for this work that brings us into the realm of the imagination. Carl Jung said that “dreams are the guiding words of the soul.” Bertil Vallien continues to take us with him on this journey of the soul. Jim Schantz and Kim Saul, 2019
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ertil Vallien loves stories, from local folklore and international news to history and religion. He consumes stories, churns them around in his imagination, layers in personal influences and interpretations, then releases this amalgam of inspiration in glass form. Vallien is a builder, thoughtfully constructing both the physical materials and the narrative content of each piece of art. Different themes, symbols, and characters populate his work, but one common thread is Vallien’s interest in the innate dualities of life—hot and cold, light and dark, internal and external, life and death, to name a few. This dichotomy is tangibly expressed in the process of hot molten glass being manipulated then suspended in final frozen stillness and further highlighted by Vallien’s technique of casting glass in molds and placing objects within the glass. Vallien is known as a pioneer in the use of the sand-casting technique in glass, which he originally learned in an industrial capacity before developing it for use in fine art. The Swedish artist’s early training in clay brought him to Los Angeles to work in a small ceramics company; his budding interest in glass at the time collided fortuitously with a revolution in American Studio Glass in which glassmakers were encouraged to create art inspired by their own intrinsic ideas and passions. Returning to Sweden, Vallien spent many years working for Kosta Boda as a designer but, pulled by the promise of artistic freedom, he gradually began dividing his time between commercial work and creative pursuits. He has not only contributed indelibly to the expansion of glass as a medium, but he has told the world stories that might have otherwise remained unwritten. Several works center on the theme of the boat, an apt metaphor for the journey through and beyond life. Vallien says “I like fantasies and stories and the boat, of course, is a wonderful archetype that everybody can relate to. The hull is the only thing that protects what is inside from the lethal waters.” Yet, Vallien’s boats really have no hull at all. Inside and outside merge into one as the marine blue and earthy brown shape seems made from water itself, stilled into canoe-like form. The petrified objects encased within serve as clues about whomever sought safe passage within her. Human figures, crosses, and circle symbols lend a spiritual undercurrent to these works, which Vallien has called “dreams of an eternal life.”
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Watcher, 2019, Sand cast glass, 49 x 9.25 4 inches
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Over the years, Vallien has worked a series he calls Area II. Area II is an imaginary zone (to get a sense of it, see the landscape made from glass in the work entitled Map) discovered in the future and struck by either freezing cold or destructive fire (there is that duality again). The idea for The Watcher began as small figural inclusions in works in the Area II series, then emerged as if from an archaeological dig to become powerful hybrid land-figures which caused these catastrophic events. Heads rise pharaohlike from earthly bondage, cryptic clues suspended within the blue glass body. Rough edges meet smoothly polished surfaces, protruding bubbles sit upon etched lines, different surface treatments eliciting complex emotional responses. Detailed planning, textural nuance, elaborate narrative, and the intelligent play of contrasts define Vallien’s work, as exemplified in the Landscape works. Layers—both physical and psychological—are created through a multistep process. Surface textures result from the imprint of objects placed on the walls of the mold, which are also dusted with powdered metal oxides to release color. As the molten glass is poured into the mold, Vallien incorporates a variety of objects from sheet metal and glass threads, to figures and other colored forms. This master of duality offers a contra point to his intricate cast pieces with new works called Super Eggs. Vallien says that he sat down with his casting crew one day and said: “no casting today, let’s blow, let’s show what the human breath can do with glass.” The result is the most natural form glass can make, a bubble, expanded to the limits of fragility and lightness. Confucius said “yin and yang, male and female, strong and weak, rigid and tender, heaven and earth, light and darkness, thunder and lightning, cold and warmth, good and evil…the interplay of opposite principles constitutes the universe.” That the same artist could conceive and execute such seemingly disparate works—from the thoughtful and weighty Landscapes to the spontaneous and diaphanous Super Eggs — may seem counterintuitive. In fact, this is the mark of an artist who truly relishes in the range of his material and who continues to explore the universal dualities of life and glass.
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Map, 2018, Sand cast glass, 20 x 17 x 2.75 inches
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Public Service, 2018, Sand cast glass, 6.75 x 6 x 5.75 inches Landscape, 2019, Sand cast glass, 5.5 x 6 x 6 inches
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Landscape, 2019, Sand cast glass, 9 x 9 x 8.5 inches
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Boat, 2019, Sand cast glass, 3.5 x 43.75 x 4.5 inches
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Compass, 2016, Sand cast glass, 42.5 x 5.5 x 4.75 inches
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Tomb of Saint, 2011, Sand cast glass, 30 x 17.25 x 3.5 inches
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Checking Out, 2017, Sand cast glass, gold leaf wood, 43 x 4 x 2.75 inches
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Watcher, 2018, Sand cast glass, 38 x 6 x 3.5 inches
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Boat, 2018, Sand cast glass, 4 x 19.5 x 2.75 inches
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Boat, Sand cast glass, 3.5 x 25.5 x 4 inches
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Boat, 2016, Sand cast glass, 25.5 x 10.75 x 4.5 inches
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Landscape, 2019, Sand cast glass, 8 x 5.7 x 5.7 inches Portal, 2019, Sand cast glass, 10 x 7 x 3 inches
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See Man,2002, Sand cast glass, 13.3 x 17 x 3 inches
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Janus #3, 2016, Sand cast glass, 8.25 x 11.75 x 6 inches
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Protocol II, 2016, Sand cast glass, 16.125 x 33 x 7.75 inches
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Janus, 2019, Sand cast glass and stone base, 10 x 8 x 3.5 inches
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Janus, 2019, Sand cast glass and wood base, 14.75 x 14.5 x 5.5 inches
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Vallien has stated that his “whole career started with horses.” The magnificent and gentle animal fascinates Vallien, who deftly captures their monumental form in a series of drawings. Until now, he has not exhibited his two-dimensional work in the United States. Portraying the horses in either black and white or golden amber flecked with red imbues them with an otherworldly air. Motifs from Vallien’s glass works appear as supporting characters—enigmatic cave-like drawings, celestial maps, landscape sketches, and mask-filled boats are layered directly on the horse form or set in the background. Vallien demonstrates a thoughtful touch when working in two-dimensions, blending chiaroscuro bands of soft color with precise line drawings. His deliberate layering of objects, tones, and textures creates a sense of depth on the page.
Memento Mori, 2019, 10/20 archival print on 310 gr Arches paper, 21 x 27 inches
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Grid 80, 2019, 8/18 Archival print on 310 gr Arches paper, 21 x 27 inches
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Starry Sky, 2019, 7/18 Archival print on 310 gr Arches paper, 21 x 27 inches Yellow 1, 2019, 13/20 Archival print on 310 gr Arches paper, 21 x 27 inches
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At the Edge, 2019, 6/18 Archival print on 310 gr Arches paper, 21 x 27 inches
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Super Egg, 2019, Blown glass, 20 x 14 x 12 inches Super Egg, 2019, Blown glass, 20 x 14.25 x 14.25 inches
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Super Egg, 2019, Blown glass, 20 x 17 x 15 inches
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BERTILVALLIEN Bertil Vallien has since 1963 worked at Kosta Glassworks and made himself world famous both as a designer and artist. He is internationally renowned, holds several design and art awards, and his work is represented in the most prestigious museums around the world. SELECTED PUBLIC COLLECTIONS SELECTED AWARDS Art Institute, Chicago, IL Detroit Art Institute, Detroit, MI Düsseldorf Museum of Fine Arts, Düsseldorf, Germany Everson Museum, NY, USA HM de Young Museum, San Francisco, CA Indianapolis Art Museum, Indianapolis, USA Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY Microsoft Art Collection, Seattle, WA Mint Museum of Art and Design, Charlotte, NC, USA Musée des Arts Decoratifs, The Louvre, Paris, France Museo de Vidrio, Monterrey, Mexico Museum fur Kunst und Gewerbe, Hamburg, Germany Museum of Art and Design, New York, NY Museum of Fine Art, Boston, MA National Museum of Art, Tokyo, Japan National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto, Japan National Museum, Edinburgh, UK National Museum, Stockholm, Sweden Rockford Museum of Art, Rockford, IL The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Montreal, Canada The Powerhouse Museum, Sydney, Austraila.
1998 Prince Eugene’s Medal for Outstanding Achievement in Art, Stockholm, Sweden 1995 Urban Glass Award for Outstanding Achievements in Glass, New York, NY 2001 Visionaries Award, Museum of Arts and Design, New York, NY 2002 Honorary Doctorate, Linnaeus University, Sweden 2004 Award in Recognition of the Promotion of Glass Art in the World, Museo del Vidrio, Monterey. México 2005 The Wilson Award, GAS, New Orleans, LA 2006 Gold Medal, Royal Academy of Science, Stockholm, Sweden 2008 The Libensky Award, Prague, Czech Republic 2012 Medal for the exhibition Nine Rooms at the 13th Biennale in Venice given by Instituto Veneto di Scienze ed Arti
The Prescott Collection at Pacific First Centre, Seattle, USA The State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia Trondheim Art Museum, Norway Victoria and Albert Museum, London, England VIDA Museum, Öland, Sweden Yokohama Art Museum, Yokohama, Japan
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I like working with themes. They’re like maxims that might be used to set off a whole chain of events. Glass offers opportunities like no other material. It has everything. It has an inner power of suggestion; it has light, heat and cold. Interior depths have always appealed to me more than the outer surface. For me, the blowing room is the centre of everything. It’s like ladling matter out of a volcano and watching the glowing lava turn to ice. Knowing the exact moment at which to capture a shift of light or expression and wrench the secret from the glass is what it’s all about.
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journey of the soul
To see more works by Bertil Vallien on exhibit in our gallery, please visit us in person in Stockbridge, or on our website. We are happy to send additional photos. This exhibition was produced in cooperation with Kosta Boda, Sweden.
covers: Blues, 2019, Sand cast glass, 10.25 x 6 x 5.75 and 9 x 6 x 6.25 inches © 2019 Schantz Galleries 3 Elm Street Stockbridge, MA 01262 (413) 298-3044 www.schantzgalleries.com jim@schantzgalleries.com Essay: Jeanne Koles Design; Jeanne Koles and Kim Saul Photography: Göran Örtegren and Kim Saul Published by: Schantz Galleries
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schantz galleries CONTEMPORARY GLASS
3 Elm Street, Stockbridge, MA 01262
(413) 298-3044
www.schantzgalleries.com
