The Shanghai Museum of Glass presents “Impression,” a retrospective of Steve Weinberg, one of the most innovative and prolific glass artists working today. Born in 1959, the American artist pioneered glass casting, which broke from the tradition of glass blowing. He was one of the first modern glass artists to integrate colors and bubbles into his work, and his groundbreaking techniques are seen in this exhibit.

Curator Sharon Oleksiak calls Weinberg an “alchemist” and claims that he “uses glass for his art because it is glass.” This clear-sighted analysis underpins the whole display. Some of the most unexpected pieces in the show are the rusted metal buoys filled with transparent glass and a crystal ceramic water jug encasing a body of glass. One of the buoys (Native American CMS Buoy, 2007) has a hole cut through it; the glass inside refracts a smaller image of what lies beyond, implying that naming something “art” can alter our perceptions of the object and its surroundings.

Other striking pieces are the three “boats”–semi-circular slabs of colored glass called Emerald Boat (2001), Saffron Boat (2007) and Isobar Blue (2006). Although created at different points in his career, the works represent a thread in Weinberg’s oeuvre. Another technique he honed during the ’00s can be seen in Mandala With Turquoise (2007), in which layers of colored glass trap shattered flakes of gold leaf while swirls of blue create a second dimension.

The three Component Structures are small glass cubes with matte cut-outs in various mechanical shapes dating from ’80, ’81 and ’82. The longevity of the glass means that these pieces seem not to have aged in the decades since their creation. This jars with the common notion that glass is fragile. But when we assign it artistic status, it becomes as long-lasting as steel.

The only piece of representative art is a matte glass cast called Christine’s Back from 2007. A figurative piece among abstract works, it stands out both for its form and subject matter, and for the fact that it is displayed against a black backdrop. The other pieces in the exhibition are arranged on white podiums.

DETAILS

What: Steven Weinberg

Where: Shanghai Museum of Glass

When: Now through October 6