‘Prism: Light, Colour, Form’ considers the universal appeal of glass and its myriad applications, with the title referring both to the medium’s refractive qualities and to the various ‘lenses’ through which this 2024 display considers its materiality. 

The earliest artworks in ‘Prism’ are the Roman-made Flask and Footed dish, both circa 1–500 CE, iridescent vessels that date back to the origins of glassblowing. These pieces act as windows onto the world of glass and its evolution.

Opalescence is an effect that has continued to hold practitioners in its sway. For example, the Lötz Witwe Goose-necked sprinkler c.1900 demonstrates the way the lustrous surface was achieved by proponents of the Art Nouveau movement. More recent iterations include Colin Heaney’s Iridised sphere 1989 and Peter Goss’s Open shell form 1987. These artworks introduce another of the display’s threads: natural elements and atmospheric conditions.  

In Warm air 2021, Clare Belfrage metaphorically explores the phenomenon referred to in her artwork’s title, while Jenni Kemarre Martiniello’s Flat red ochre coil weave dillybag 2021 evokes the warp and weft of woven earth-infused string. 

Featured, too, are artworks that recontextualise manufactured glass. Deb Jones’s Kink oil bottle 2011 replicates the utility of olive oil pourers in three chartreuse vessels; Nick Mount aestheticises familiar objects in Cylinders and funnels 1980; and Lucy Coolwell embellishes iconic Bundaberg Rum bottles.

These varied approaches are indicative of the range of styles and ideas that ‘Prism’ traverses, surveying both the rich history of glassmaking and its sophisticated techniques. Of note is the work of artists who have stretched the medium’s conceptual potential, encompassing glassmaking’s effusive and playful turn in recent decades.
 

‘Prism’ is on display in GOMA’s Foyer from 1 June to 20 October 2024.

Feature image: Tom Moore’s Carrot Cadillac and Herald of bad burgers II 2008, installed for ‘Prism’, June 2024 / Hot joined, blown and solid glass / Purchased 2009 with funds from Gabrielle, Persephone, Freya, Xavier, Fin and Marcus Fraser through the QAG Foundation / © Tom Moore / Photograph: M Sherwood, QAGOMA