Dale Chihuly @ Phipps Conservatory, Pittsburgh, PA
Dale Chihuly @ Phipps Conservatory, Pittsburgh, PA, originally uploaded by juggernautco.
A few weeks ago I was in Pittsburgh for a family event. Deirdre and I went to see the Chihuly Show the Phipps Conservatory. It was amazing. A few things:
His art is not about glassblowing, it's about installation and context and emotion-- glass just happens to be a material
The Phipps Conservatory is extremely "mature"-- it just has a different, more complex and detailed, feeling to it than either the Lincoln Park or Garfield Park conservatories here in Chicago
Each room of the Victorian-style conservatory has a distinct theme, and the installations in each of them were completely in sync with each place
The boat in the image above was stunning to come across-- simple wooden boat in black water overflowing with color balls. Excess, overcrowding, yearning
The show was way better than the one at Garfield Park I saw in January 2002-- just more precision and fullness, like every thought was complete
Other favorites: blue ground cover, red reeds, and big leaves