Wilfried Grootens – Fly On The Gallery Wall

What a wonderful celebratory event yesterday, Saturday Sept. 21, at the Sandra Ainsley Gallery in Toronto, marking Sandra’s 40 years of presenting the finest glass artists in the world in her spectacular 6,000 sq. foot gallery. I’ve had the opportunity of attending several exhibitions over the past decade, but this was a really special occasion with a dozen of the 60 international artists she represents joining Sandra along with collectors and friends to mark this curatorial milestone. Here’s the lady herself…
The Sandra Ainsley Gallery is one of North America’s leading contemporary glass galleries. Founded in 1984 by Sandra Ainsley, the Toronto-based gallery has been recognized as a force in the international glass market. The Gallery represents the world’s leading artists working primarily in glass, as well as a roster of diverse, contemporary emerging artists. For over 35 years, the Gallery has established strong relationships with both private and corporate clients, assisting them in finding the perfect piece for their collection. Located in a converted warehouse space, with 22-foot ceilings, dramatic lighting, and an open concept layout, the Gallery is the ideal backdrop to exhibit the outstanding collection of glass sculptures. Sandra Ainsley Gallery has represented world-renowned glass artist Dale Chihuly (below) since 1989.

About Sandra: Since she established her first gallery in Hazelton Lanes in Toronto’s Yorkville area in 1984, Sandra has developed and nurtured her passion for glass into a thriving and successful business. She expanded in 1989 to become the premier gallery in the Financial District’s Exchange Tower. This location allowed Sandra to better meet the needs of both private and corporate clients with an impressive roster of international artists. Today Sandra Ainsley is one of the leading dealers of contemporary glass in North America. The Exchange Tower space launched in 1989 with a Dale Chihuly exhibition then her gallery at The Distillery opened November 2002, with over 2000 people in attendance, and pioneered the largest exhibition by Dale Chihuly in a private gallery.
In September 2012, Sandra Ainsley Gallery relocated to an industrial warehouse in Toronto’s Don Valley Parkway and Eglinton Ave area at 100 Sunrise Ave, Unit 150. It was a surprising move but the space, with its 22 foot ceilings, is an ideal backdrop to show sculpture, especially the pieces with scale. This location enables Sandra to spend quality time with her clients and artists, many of whom Sandra has represented for over 3 decades and she enjoys her long standing relationships with them. The gallery works with private collectors, corporate clients, designers and architects in placing major pieces and installations as well as more intimate sculptures. She has become an integral part of the international glass community, establishing herself as one of the leading dealers of contemporary glass in world. Arriving early in the day, FLY was able to watch as Sandra’s clients, friends and artists arrived, filling the gallery with so many ooo’s and aaah’s and lots of heartfelt congratulations and love. She truly does care about her artists and it was lovely to meet a number of them in person: Wilfried Grootens‘ work was fascinating and so beautiful (and tactile). Here he is with his intriguing pieces that offer mesmerizing illusions for the viewer…. Loved meeting Jason Christian whose work included the colourful “yo-yos” in the key photo as well as this friendly dragon who greeted visitors… And it truly was exciting to see 2 pieces by FLY’s favourite Australian artist Noel Hart (below) for whom Sandra created a live Zoom seminar a couple of years ago. Noel bases many of his pieces on the colourful birds of the Australian bush. Such a wonderful afternoon, complete with speeches from Sandra and the artists, and so many gasps of appreciation for all the work. The special anniversary show runs until November 15, and you can get all the details, directions, gallery hours at Sandra’s website: www.sandraainsleygallery.com

FLY highly recommends you visit the Sandra Ainsley Gallery to enjoy the impressive and remarkable glass art.

Fly was thrilled to drop in to the Sandra Ainsley Gallery in Toronto’s east end the other day and the thrill of opening the plain, unassuming outside door and walking into the spectacular gallery was breath-taking! The huge lofty warehouse-like space showcases some of the most spectacular glass artworks, including many pieces by the legendary Dale Chihuly (below)Sandra herself offered a warm welcome then her associate, Daniel, introduced glass masters previously unknown to FLY via the stunning colourful and delicate works currently on show. First off, this showcase of 5 monochromatic pieces by Tobias Mohl that immediately catches one’s eyes:

Tobias Møhl’s training came from his on the job experience as a glassblower for the well-known Danish firm Holmegaard GlasvÃ¦rk, where he started in 1989 at the age of 19. By 1992 he was a master glassblower. He was an assistant glassblower for Lino Tagliapietra’s master class at Pilchuck in 1996 and at Tagliapietra’s master class at Haystack in 1997. Blowing for Tagliapietra gave Møhl good exposure and his reputation in the U.S. began to soar. By the end of the 1990s Møhl had earned international recognition. Møhl’s work is a unique marriage of classical Venetian technique with a clear Scandinavian aesthetic. His work is testimony to his considerable skill and interest in traditional technique and craftsmanship. At the same time he also explores innovative options with glass. He uses a traditional process, creating a mosaic of glass that is picked up with a gather of hot molten glass and then blown into shape. The blowing process stretches the mosaic into intricate patterns on the glass. While this technique is traditional, the patterns he creates express a contemporary aesthetic. Many of Møhl’s vessels are white on white or white on black. He uses color sparingly and often he’ll use just one or two colors from his simplified palette.

FLY then decided that the colourful, very tactile pieces by Michael Behrens were favourites of the day…
German-born artist Wilfried Grootens trained as a teenager in glass & porcelain painting, then after several self-discovery journeys around the world he started performing with the German bands Embryo and Dissidenten, groups known for their avant-garde approach to a style of music coined the “world beat movement.” He returned to his glass roots and the results are now on show in the gallery…

Grootens’ current glass work (above) uses the optical float technique. He paints on layers of glass and assembles them in stacks, laminating them together to create cube forms. The cubes are cut and polished to perfection. One sculpture in the series, “Where the Shark Bubbles Blow,” is made from 35 layers of painted glass. For this piece, Grootens painted a circle shape on the surface of each thin layer of clear glass. Made of thousands of very fine brush strokes of varying tones, the painted circle creates a wonderful aqua blue. The circles on each layer recede or expand in size gradually and, when seen together, form a miraculous three dimensional globe which seems to be suspended in the cube.

Daniel then directed FLY’s gaze to the big bold colour glass blocks by John Kiley …wow! Not only did the actual pieces generate excitement and wonder, they also cast amazing reflections on the gallery floor – see below

Similar to abstract expressionism, Kiley’s work captures the motion AND emotion of the artist, but in three dimensions. When glass cools, the atoms are arranged randomly. In glass, fractures from an impact follow these random pathways – because of this it’s impossible to re-create the exact same fracture twice in glass, each Fractograph is an indelible and irreproducible record of impact, energy, time and place. The self-imposed rules for the initial 10 blocks were simple, start with a brand new 10lb. sledge hammer, a perfectly polished 80 lb block of optic glass, and you only get one hit. Whatever happens, happens.

Lots more exquisite pieces to view in the gallery – lots more artists to discover….

SPECIAL PRESENTATION – runs until May 21st: Sandra Ainsley Gallery is hosting “Translucent Bloom”, the Sheridan College graduate showcase. So many lovely, unique pieces from future glass stars! If you get a chance, hurry down to support these young talented artists.