William Morris creates beautiful pieces
of art by blowing glass. His elaborate glass work ranges from vividly
colorful urns and pottery, to human skeletons that are astonishingly
anatomically correct, as well as animal figurines. Much of the work
he has crafted incorporate strong tones of shamanistic and animistic
ideology. A most impressive aspect of his glass sculptures are the
realistic textures he can create on glass. Many glass vessels and
sculptures have an ancient look to them, as if they have been
uncovered from ruins of a lost city.
This was what initially caught my
attention. Morris creates glass art that at first glance seems
somewhat simplistic until its deeply observed, and then its easy to see how complex and detailed it is. It reminds me of looking at ancient
city ruins, Mayan ruins in particular (because of his 'Mazorca'
installation); just glancing at the temples is just seeing them
exist. But then when you actually look at them you can see how much
incredible work was put into creating monuments that have lasted
thousands of years. The temples were not just stacked blocks of
stone in the eyes of the people building them, it was a place of deep
ritual significance.
When really looking at Morris's art I
don't just see it as glass, I see it as he intended it be whether its
a skull of a horned animal or a medicine jar. When I see art I have a
tendency to first focus on the medium rather than what it is supposed
to be. When looking at William Morris's glass I see what he created, and then become astonished with how he did it.
You make an interesting point here when you say " don't just see it as glass" - you seem to be saying that the pieces are so striking and thought provoking that the realization of the material is secondary. It is completely amazing to think about how WM makes this work. One question for you: how might glass be contributing to what these pieces mean? Is there anything about glass as a material that connects to some of the ideas about the work that you have?
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