Anatra 1999

This is 'Anatra,' by Lino Tagliapietra, a glass piece. The way the colors snake around each other, it’s almost like watching a dance, a negotiation between forms, between hot and cold. When I look at 'Anatra' I think about the way the molten glass must have been coaxed and pulled, stretched and blown, to achieve this form. The surface of the red area is almost topographical, like a cross-section of a geological form, an echo of all that manipulation. But the lines too, those tight, spiraling lines! How were they laid down? Were they laid down one by one? What kind of concentration, what kind of planning would that take? 'Anatra' reminds me a little of Yayoi Kusama's repeating patterns, and the way they seem to grow organically. But here, it's all contained, all directed toward a singular point. It's like a concentrated burst of energy, frozen in glass. Art is just the ongoing conversation, right?