Mulberry Square Fiori (2024)
Dale Chihuly
The name of Chihuly’s Mille Fiori compositions is scarcely an exaggeration. Italian for thousand flowers, these arrangements of glass in every conceivable shape become lush gardens of what, for all their vibrancy, may as well be living forms.
Encompassing tall Reeds, sinuous Marlins, dappled and candy-bright Floats, and a cluster of cobalt tendrils emerging from the ground, Mulberry Square Fiori is not representational—that is, it does not mimic the appearance of the thousand flowers it is named for. Rather, it captures the unrestrained vitality of a July garden in a tribute to Chihuly’s beloved late mother, Viola, a master gardener and colour fanatic.
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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.