Goode Glass FINAL (6-26-23) - Flipbook - Page 22
Michael Glancy
D
RAWING VISUAL INSPIRATION from a range of sciences, including botany,
molecular biology, and geology, Michael Glancy (1950-2020) developed carefully
considered sets of electroplated vessel forms and bases. Electrolysis, a technology
invented in 1805, creates a deposit of metal layers on the surface of another material
via an electric current, often requiring more than one hundred hours to complete the process.
Glancy utilized this technology for his glass sculptures, creating metal skins and linings on the
surface of reliefs that are deeply carved by sand-blasting into their exteriors. The designs often
took their cues from minute organic structures studied in molecular biology, informing the
dynamic patterns the artist developed in carefully measured drawings. Glancy referred to the
three-dimensional forms as objects, not vessels. Each one was carefully positioned on geometric
platforms with complex patterns the artist viewed as sectioned from an infinite landscape
or environmental construct. Bases and objects were developed independently, then paired
to unique assemblages of gem-like quality. Every meticulously executed glass sculpture is one-ofa-kind, its precious perfection fitting for a cabinet of curiosities.
The thick-walled, vertical hollow form of Inside-Outside takes its inspiration both from the
artistic process and a biological specimen. Here, cast glass imparts a smoky green tinge to the
vertical object, its body recalling the fruit of the screw pine (pandanus), a globular stone fruit
with prism-like exterior sections similar to the appearance of a pineapple. Protrusions in deep
relief seemingly break through the husk-like layers of metallic skin enveloping the stylized form,
meticulously controlled by the artist in a multi-step process to capture the shapes created by
the natural growth of a maturing fruit. The object rests in a rimmed, circular depression carved
off-center into the associated platform made from clear, industrial plate glass. Deeply carved
venation, its valleys emphasized by metallic deposits, recalls the microscopic view of vascular
systems as well as the aerial perspective of geographies with networks of water tributaries. This
unusual meshing of such diverse viewpoints, both close-up and from great distance, is a unique
characteristic of Glancy’s intricate work.
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