On ViewBen W. Heineman Sr. Family Gallery of Contemporary Glass.
Interpretive Notes
The detailed narratives of Robert Carlson’s sculptures and chalices, as he calls his large figural goblets, are symbolic, reflecting themes that are archetypal and personal. Inspired by the religious art of many cultures, Carlson says that he investigates “the numinous, that which cannot be defined or understood by the rational mind.”
Physical DescriptionMulticolored over colorless non-lead glasses; sand-mold and free-blown, cold painted. Vertical with squared base and double gourd upper half; tall, hollow closed form; lower half has been blown into a square-shaped sand-mold with four, low protruding feet; four sides have designs in relief and intricate polychrome painting; side (a) "Desmund Tutu's Cross" - pair of joined crosses in relief painted silver, gold and bronze with polychrome abstract patterning; side (b) "The Pillars of Aphrodite" - raised vertical panel with raised side panels with intricate polychrome decoration flanking painted area of blue with white and apricot striations, painted above in an overlapped moon and sun with a black and gold aura; side (c) "Adam and Eve at the Hotel Babel" - four raised polychromed vertical panels, silver background, crudely outlined male and female nudes holding hands and each flanking the central panel; side (d) - raised disk polychromed into yin and yang symbol, four ends of a cross emerge from disc, painted above disc are a crescent moon and a sun; upper half of form consists of large double gourd shape with pointed gold top, blown from same bubble as sand-cast area, but freed from the mold; large lower lobe painted with net of tree branches, leaves, red fruit, and orange birds; upper lobe or "minarette" has blue background suggesting sky and is sectioned by vertical green snakes, scattered flying birds; painted in script near base of "He and She" yin yang panel "R. Carlson 1986". Provenance
Source
Raymond E. Fontaine
- 1986-12-08
Source
Robert Carlson
(American, b. 1952) - 1986-12-08
