In the Name of Love - Contemporary Glass

Catalogue of the exhibition with the same title. Love was and is an important subject in art. People long to make love and love's sorrow tangible. Over the centuries, literature, music, painting, and sculpture testify to this eternal quest. The new exhibition In the Name of Love at the Alexander Tutsek-Stiftung in Munich shows the many facets of love, and was extended until 30 April 2013. It illuminated the light, desirable side of love but also its hidden, mysterious, dark side. And this was done with a material which is not often seen in art: glass and mixed media. Thirty objects by twenty-six international artists were on view in the beautiful Art Nouveau villa in Munich-Schwabing. An elaborately photographed catalogue has been published in conjunction with the exhibition. It gives all those who cannot come to Munich a chance to experience the exhibition up close.

The Material Glass in Art
Glass is one of the interest areas of the young and dynamic foundation that is now ten years old and that likes to seize on the unusual. Glass in art goes back a long way, for instance, to the non-functional vases by Emile Gallé or Daum. The material experienced a dramatic change with the so-called studio-glass movement, which celebrates its fiftieth anniversary in 2012: Away from forms such as vases or bowls and towards many-layered messages. As a medium glass has developed —unnoticed by many— into an independent area of art.

The Facets of Love in the Exhibition
The exhibition shows objects by well-known international artists, but visitors will also discover young talents who are still unknown in Europe. Especially these young talents use the material glass freely in combination with other materials such as branches, fabric, photography, or wire mesh to explore the light and dark sides of love. For example, the wings the young Canadians Tanya Lyons & Mathieu Grodet sewn together of many parts. They convey the elation love can arouse but also remind of the danger of getting burned.
In the "Land of Poets and Thinkers," complicated themes apparently continue to concern men and women artists. Numerous emotionally poignant works represent these artists from the north of Germany to the south. They drastically demonstrate the cruel power of love to destroy hearts (Ariane Forkel) or even to rip them out (Simone Fezer). Franz X. Höller's smoothly polished red couple standing side by side conveys that love in partnerships makes demands and that compromises establish good partnerships. The objects by Christiane Budig and Sybille Peretti reveal touching aspects of the very special affection between siblings.
The specific mother-and-child love relationship is one of the predominant themes of the large disturbing sculptures by Christina Bothwell (USA). At the same time, they imply the danger of a love too big, which — represented by an octopus — embraces and crushes everything. The glass HIV focuses on the dark sides of sexual and romantic love and in this context reminds us to be charitable in our dealings with the sick (Luke Jerram). There are objects from Israel and New Zealand as well as from China and Japan. Lino Tagliapietra, the great and venerated mentor of many artists, devotes himself to the love of one's home country, with colourful and profound reflections on the water of Venice.

Foreword by Florian Hufnagl With contributions from Eva-Maria Fahrner-Tutsek and Clementine Schack von Wittenau Artists: Kate Baker, Christina Bothwell, Christiane Budig, José Chardiet, Katharine Coleman, Mel Douglas, Steven Easton, Simone Fezer, Ariane Forkel, Mathieu Grodet, Donghai Guan, Franz X. Höller, Luke Jerram, Gina Jones, Dafna Kaffeman, Marta Klonowska, Silvia Levenson, Zhenning Li, Tanya Lyons, Masayo Odahashi, Sibylle Peretti, Elizabeth Swinburne, Lino Tagliapietra, Susan Taylor Glasgow, Janusz Walentynowicz, Xiao Ke Zhao.

This well made book to celebrate the 10 years of the Tutsek-Stiftung also celebrates Eva-Maria Fahner-Tutsek’s 10 years of setting up exhibitions, and she is also responsible for this exhibition around the theme of ‘love’. With good texts and good photos this catalogue shows glass works as sculpture and installation and in detail photos it reveals the poetical, provocative and daring use of glass. Finally, there are biographies of the participating artists.

ISBN: 978-3-86678-589-2, 25 x 25 cm, hardcover, bound, in German and English, price €29.90 or CHF 41.90. Order: Kerber Verlag: www.kerberverlag.com/de/no_cache/produktsuche
More information: Alexander Tutsek-Stiftung, Karl-Theodor-Straße 27, D-80803 München, +49 (0)89-343856
www.atutsek-stiftung.de
http://www.atutsek-stiftung.de