booklet for habatat galleries by junghoon park

You are invited to visit the whimsical and beautiful world of Hans Godo Fr äbel HABATATGALLERIES OCT 2 – nov 29, 2008

Hans Godo Fräbel at Habatat Galleries

Hans Godo Fräbel Hans Godo Fräbel is one of the first American flameworkers to have been part of a major art movement. In the early seventies, he produced sculptures in the pop aesthetic that set him apart from the other glass artists at this time. Fräbel was born in Jena, East Germany in 1941. After World War II, the family fled the communistic regime in East Germany and they settled in Mainz am Rheine in West Germany. As a young man, he was trained as a scientific glassblower at the prestigious Jena Glaswerke in Mainz am Rheine, West Germany. In his spare time, he had the opportunity to focus on his real passion, art, and attended different art classes, to learn how to paint and draw. In 1965 he came to the United States and settled in Atlanta. He obtained a position at the Georgia Institute of Technology in its scientific glass blowing laboratory. There he also continued his art studies at Emory University and Georgia State University. While working at Georgia Tech, Fräbel’s creative talents were often sought after by professors and acquaintances alike to create glass sculptures as gifts for friends, partners and business associates. With so many people enjoying the beauty of his glass sculptures, Fräbel felt strengthened to continue his quest to become an artist. In 1968, Fräbel established his own glass studio in Atlanta, Georgia. Over the next 40 years, he would follow in accordance with the European tradition of apprentice and mentoring studio master: as the master artist he would pass his skills on to a handpicked group of apprentices (such as Ginny Ruffner), who after many years of training would become master artists in their own right.

a bov e In the middle of the night Hans Godo Fräbel, 1977 10" x 14.5" x 5" l e ft Large cube with imploded glass spheres Hans Godo Fräbel 2006 | 14' x 14' x 16' Atlanta Botanical Garden cov er Phalaenopsis schillerians Hans Godo Fräbel, 2007 30" x 19" x 11" | $12,500

Habatat Galleries is pleased to present this exciting body of work in conjunction with Hans Godo Fräbel’s exhibition at Reflections of Glass on Water

Widely regarded as one of the most influential flameworkers in America, Fräbel has been an important part of the evolution of flameworking as a recognized and respected art medium. His list of accomplishments is long and diverse. He was included in the Corning New Glass Review in 1979 and was part of an international touring exhibition from 1979 to 1983 that included the Corning Museum, The Toledo Museum of Art, The Renwick Gallery in Washington dc, The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, The Musee des Arts Decoratifs in Paris, and the Seibu Museum of Art in Tokyo. In 1986, he was named the first Absolut Vodka glass artist, joining other famous artists like Andy Warhol and Keith Haring. His sculptures have been presented as gifts for heads of government around the world, and have been included in Museum collections all over the world.

Clown fountain Hans Godo Fräbel 2006 | 7' x 7' x 10' Atlanta Botanical Garden

Fräbel’s work is most easily characterized by its flawless quality and unique design. Long known for his “pop-art” approach, Fräbel is famous for sculptures that depict ordinary things in a manner that makes them extraordinary. A great example of this is the “Hammer and Nails” sculpture, which is mounted so that the hammer appears to be in midstroke. This sculpture has been traveling museums around the world since 1979. In another sculpture, entitled “In the Middle of the Night”, a drop of water is suspended in midair as they fall from a faucet. The drop of water is playfully exaggerated to symbolize how loud a drop of water sounds in the middle of the night when one is trying to fall asleep, hence its title. These works are made exclusively in clear borosilicate glass, and this lack of color allows the sculpture to act as a symbol rather than as a representation of reality. These pieces played an important part in the pop art movement and have placed Fräbel on the map as one of the world’s most widely known and influential flameworkers.

Hans Godo Fräbel at Habatat Galleries

In the mid 1990’s, Fräbel started to utilize more and more color in his art and in 2004, he started exhibitions at Botanical Gardens, which displays life-like floral and animal life forms. Most of these sculptures are representations of animals and flowers that are (nearly) extinct and therefore offer the unique possibility to see an, as close as possible, a life-like flower or animal that cannot be easily found in nature anymore. The exhibition was later expanded with larger sculptures, such as the “Cavorting Clown Fountain” (over 10 feet in height) and the “Cube with Imploded Spheres”, which is over 15 feet tall and weighs over 1,500 lbs. In 2007, an Emmy nominated PBS documentary was created about the life and art of Hans Godo Fräbel, entitled: “Transformed by Flame – The Glass Art of Fräbel”. This documentary has been broadcasted by many PBS affiliates all over the US.

below Longfellow fountain Hans Godo Fräbel 2006 | 5' x 6' x 9' Atlanta Botanical Garden

f r o m l e ft Clown in Balance (Blue) Hans Godo Fräbel, 2008 27" x 6" x 8" | $6,500 Clown in Balance (Purple) Hans Godo Fräbel, 2008 23" x 11" x 6" | $6,500 Clown in Balance (Black) Hans Godo Fräbel, 2008 23" x 11" x 9" | $6,500 Clown in Balance (Yellow) Hans Godo Fräbel, 2008 26" x 10" x 13" | $6,500

Hans Godo Fräbel at Habatat Galleries

Venus Hans Godo Fr채bel, 2002 23" x 10" x 15" | $7,000 each