Dale Chihuly

I've been a big fan of anything Dale Chihuly for some time now. I think any American artist in any genre, medium or whatever should know who he is.

Chihuly practices in multiple forms but it mostly a glass installation artist. Some glass is blown. Some is pulled with tongs. Some is just flat out Chihuly and there's no other way to put it than that.

Chihuly became famous for his chandeliers like this one currently on display at the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix, AZ:

Chiostro di Sant'Appolonia Chandelier, 1995:
http//www.chihuly.com/installations/DesertBotanicalGarden/DesertBotanicalGarden013.html

Yes, that is glass. Sometimes HOLY SHIT is the only response we can have when looking at a piece of art this intense yet delicate and soft. The technical term for this piece is HOLY SHIT.

For more HOLY SHIT visual experiences, check out some of the other pieces on display linked below.

Current Chihuly exhibit at the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix:

The Sun, 2008:
http//www.chihuly.com/installations/DesertBotanicalGarden/DesertBotanicalGarden003.html

Scorpion Tails and Bamboo, 2008:
http//www.chihuly.com/installations/DesertBotanicalGarden/DesertBotanicalGarden004.html

Ruby Fiddleheads, 2008:
http//www.chihuly.com/installations/DesertBotanicalGarden/DesertBotanicalGarden006.html

Blue Reeds, Marlins and Floats, 2008:
http//www.chihuly.com/installations/DesertBotanicalGarden/DesertBotanicalGarden009.html

Blue and Purple Boat, 2008:
http//www.chihuly.com/installations/DesertBotanicalGarden/DesertBotanicalGarden010.html

How are these pieces not inspiring?

In my poems, I try to bring together fierce intensity and vulnerabilty. Chihuly does that for me every time...with glass. I look at these installations and think they look so, so violent, but they are also so breakable and vulnerable at the same time. Jesus Christ I cannot get over this exhibit and it is almost over. I can't get over how Chihuly responded to the desert setting, how he is reacting to the local floral and fauna and overall landscape. He's owning the landscape and letting the landscape own his work at the same time. His art isn't competing with the landscape. It's contributing to it. Both the art and the natural setting mingle so well.

Like I said, I've been a long time fan, but this show, this exhibit is just out of this world. This is a pure, pure example of a hard, well practiced artist in the prime of his prime. I think any contemporary artist in any form of art should know Chihuly's work.