White Light: Glass Compositions by Daniel Clayman

September 14, 2008 – June 14, 2009
Organized by Daniel Clayman/Montague Studios, Ltd.

White Light: Glass Compositions by Daniel Clayman is an exhibition that defies the stereotype of contemporary glass. Seven large-scale, dense, opaque sculptures comprise the exhibition and challenge viewers’ perceptions of glass art.

Daniel Clayman began his career as a theatrical lighting designer. Tired of the late nights and extended travel periods, he left the theater and enrolled in the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) glass program in 1983. At RISD, Clayman studied under Bruce Chao who encouraged him to pursue sculpture with a basis in critical thought. The evolution of his work progressed from early architectonic studies, to his signature organic glass pods nested in bronze shells, to his more recent studies of light and shadow. By the 1990s, he had moved toward the large-scale glass pieces that characterize his work today. He simplified the designs and gradually his sculptures evolved into studies of pure form and light, creating an aesthetic defined by spare elegance within an environment of solace and grace.

Created using the cire perdu (lost wax casting) technique, the forms appear extremely simple, yet Clayman describes his process as intensely difficult. In them, Clayman embraces the Minimalist discipline, masterfully combining it with the dynamism of the Studio Glass movement and his own fascination with the nature of light. The result is light made manifest as a seemingly tangible object.

A collection of related working drawings accompanies the exhibition.

“The work in this exhibition is the culmination of three years of thought, rumination and fabrication. Of utmost importance is an economy of line, a reduction of color and the behavior of light. By paring away almost everything, I am left with objects that exist in space in the simplest manner. While the forms themselves are of primary interest, the space surrounding the pieces and the spaces that the pieces surround carry equal weight.”
— Daniel Clayman

Visit Daniel Clayman's website »

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Take a sneak peek at the exhibition:

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