Dale Chihuly

“Chihuly’s work is American in its apparent vulgarity, its brazenness and its fearless to move further out west even if there is no further west to move to.” – Henry Geldzahler in “Chihuly: Form from Fire,” 1993.

I think Geldzahler was right on about Dale Chihuly [pictured above]. And I kept thinking of his words when I went to see “Chihuly at RISD” at the RISD Museum. My review:

The main problem with “Chihuly At RISD” is that there’s not enough Dale Chihuly here. The preeminent Seattle glass artist can be cheesy and slight, but when he’s on he wows you with jam-packed, dreamy, rainbow-laden, happy spectacles that seem like mutant hybrids of wedding cakes, balloon animals, and teeming tropical reefs. It’s about too-much-of-a-good-thing excess, but this show — even with more than 30 works — feels spare and small.

Read the rest here.

“Chihuly at RISD,” RISD Museum, 20 North Main St. Providence, Sept. 27, 2008, to Jan. 4, 2009.

Pictured from top to bottom: Dale Chihuly on Sept. 24, 2008, with his “Neodymium Reeds,” “Mille Fiori,” and Chihuly with his “Baskets.” Photos (and a few more here) by The New England Journal of Aesthetic Research.