COLOR EXPLOSIONS CUBED! WILFRIED GROOTENS
WILFRIED GROOTENS
Randomness is a gift to creative people. When the unexpected pops up or the incongruent streams in or the seemingly disconnected flashes in their midst, it is an opportunity to spark genius. When a path diverts or a mind flip-flops, it is a chance for innovation.
Glass sculptures by Wilfried Grootens were developed from a culmination of random events and concepts over the course of decades. “Where Shark Bubbles Blow,” the artist’s latest series, embodies ideas and techniques that Grootens collected and honed over time.
Glass Sculptures, with highly polished sides, contain colorful slivers that appear to have exploded from the the centers, forming a 3D splintered orb. In some, they are reminiscent of irises surrounding pupils
Grootens uses the optical float glassmaking technique. He paints thousands of very fine brushstrokes, in circular patterns of varying tones, on layers of float glass. Then, he stacks and laminates them atop one another to create cube forms. The cubes are then cut and highly polished. Some pieces contain as many as 35 layers of glass.
The circles on each layer graduate and diminish progressively so that when they are seen together as a whole, they form a 3D sphere suspended in the cube. These are reflected on different planes to create a mesmerizing optical illusion. It is similar to the painting and layering technique used by artist Doug Yellin in his glass monolith sculptures.
“With my stained glass, I fill transparent geometric spaces whose visual explorations produce surprising variations in form. Different perspectives on seemingly spherically floating forms made up of linear brushstrokes give the viewer new perspectives within the object space.”
Grootens was born in Uedem, a small town in the German countryside near the Dutch border. He began training as a glass and porcelain painter with Hein Derix, when he was just 15 years old, where he learned to restore antique painted or stained glass windows, mosaics, and large-scale painted glass architectural installations. He apprenticed there for 4 years.
Grootens then spent 8 years traveling throughout Asia and South America, teaching himself to play music along the way. He spent the next 7 years after that playing “world beat” with Embryo and Dissidenten, two avant-garde German bands.
Then, the random pieces of Grootens’ life came together in the 1980’s, when he returned to his glass work, this time experimenting with techniques he eventually mastered.
In earlier pieces Grootens cut glass into slats and layered them with steel, stone, wood, or coal. Later he began to stack square, painted small glass slivers. And eventually, his illusionary shark bubbles developed.
Grootens says: “In this way variations of forms are created, mirror axes, views of one and the same body, depending on one’s point of observation.”
Read more about Beautiful Randoms all this week on BeautifulNow, And check out more beautiful things happening now in BN Wellness, Impact, Nature/Science, Food, Arts/Design, and Travel, Daily Fix posts.
Do you have amazing photos? Enter them in this week’s BN Photo Contest. We run new creative contest every week!
