Aqua Blue and Amber Chandelier (2011)
Dale Chihuly
A cascade of glass combining long, trailing tendrils and bulbous, marine globes in cheery shades of blue, gold, and citron, the Aqua Blue and Amber Chandelier is playful in both form and palette. This installation gains a fascinating tension from its lighter-than-air suspension and the way its shades of blue seem to diffuse into the sky behind it, while the reinforced “quad pod” on which it rests conveys an undeniable heaviness.
Like his Towers, Chihuly’s Chandeliers demonstrate his desire to explore colour on a grand scale. Over the years, he has explored both multicoloured compositions and variations on a single colour. Unlike traditional chandeliers, they reflect and transmit light, instead of emitting it. Located at the Whistler Square water feature, the Aqua Blue and Amber Chandelier has previously been sited at Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix, Arizona in 2021 and the Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Garden in 2012.
11 x 7 x 6½’
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About The Project
Following the successful three phases of its sculpture trail, Chelsea Barracks is pleased to add to its art programme with the inaugural edition of ‘Modern Masters’, a free outdoor programme of contemporary art curated by public art and cultural placemaking agency New Public, in partnership with London Craft Week. Find out more here.
Born in 1941 in Tacoma, Washington, Dale Chihuly is an American artist who transforms spaces with experiments in colour, light, transparency, and form. He is known for his exhibitions and large-scale architectural installations around the world and for revolutionising the studio glass movement. Chihuly works with a variety of media including glass, paint, charcoal, neon, ice, and Polyvitro, and his work is included in more than 200 museum collections worldwide, including Metropolitan Museum of Art, Smithsonian American Art Museum and Corning Museum of Glass. Chihuly has created more than a dozen well-known series of works, among them, Cylinders and Baskets in the 1970s; Seaforms, Macchia, Persians, and Venetians in the 1980s; Niijima Floats and Chandeliers in the 1990s; and Fiori, Glass on Glass, and Rotolo in the 2000s. He is also celebrated for large architectural installations.