Chihuly (Gasp!)

Everybody’s been talking about the Chihuly show at the Museum of Fine Arts. We nearly missed it because we’ve been away, but we got there yesterday. We brought Ibrahim Kanun, a classmate of mine from my very first group at the Minsk State Linguistic University. We really enjoyed seeing him, and we’re grateful that he also wanted to see this exhibit.

I’ve seen Chihuly glass before, but this show surpassed any that I remember. The MFA show included both volume and density, which really brought out some central ideas in Chihuly’s art. Many of his big pieces are amalgamations of a lot of smaller parts, frequently featuring a single color. These pieces often held less appeal for me than other more colorful glass art, but somehow I gained a new understanding at the MFA show. I guess he’s been trying to make a point all along and this time he finally managed to make it forcefully enough that I got his message.

Sorry I was so slow about understanding it. Now I want to go back and see it again, and try to put everything into its new context. We have one more week before it’s gone.

From 2011-07 Boston