Vessels of Light: Exploring Forms of Expression through Glass

Glass interacts with light in distinctive ways: allowing it to pass through, capturing it, refracting it, or reflecting it. This trait sets it apart from other crafting materials like ceramics, textiles, wood, or bamboo. Contemporary artists engage in a dialogue with the glass, exploring the kinds of expression that can be achieved through its unique characteristics.

Some artists base their works on principles of optics such as the color spectrum and prisms, while others create works inspired by scenes of nature illuminated by light, and still others, upon taking in light, artistically transform both their form and the light itself. In these works, glass plays a role as a kind of device that amplifies light and the artist’s view of the world through which it shines. Glass is an indispensable part of each work in this exhibition, serving both as a vessel for light and as a medium for its messages. This allows for a wide range of expression not limited to forms we would consider “containers” in the literal sense, enabling the production of remarkable works for the contemporary age.
This exhibition explores how contemporary artists have tackled the relationship between light and glass in their work, through a selection of works from the museum’s collection.

Artists

Pavel HLAVA, JANG Kyung Nam, Marian KAREL, Vladimír KLEIN, KOJIMA Yukako, Stanislav LIBENSKÝ & Jaroslava BRYCHTOVÁ, Alena MATĒJKA, MATSUSHIMA Iwao, NODA Yumiko, OHGITA Katsuya, SHIBUYA Ryoji, Pavel TRNKA, TSUKADA Midori, YAMASHINA Shoko, YOSHIMOTO Yumiko (arranged in alphabetical order of the artists’ family name)

Click here to download the List of works.

Click here to download the Commentary on works.

Curator’s Talk

Dates: 21 December, 19 January, 23 February, 15 March, 20 April, 17 May

each at 14:00–

Venue: Floors 4, Exhibition Room 4 & Transparent Storage

Toyama Glass Art MuseumLanguage: Japanese

* No reservation
*Ticket for this exhibition is required for admission to the exhibition rooms.
*Details events will be announced on the museum’s website and official SNS sites, etc.
*These events are subject to cancellation or change for certain reasons.

Please check the museum website for the latest information.

Contact

Toyama Glass Art Museum
bijutsukan-01@city.toyama.lg.jp