Press release from Bender Gallery:
Join us at Bender Gallery at 29 Biltmore Avenue on Sunday, September 30 from 2-4 PM for an artist talk with master sculptor, Steve Linn. American born Linn lives in southern France and creates what he refers to as documentary sculptures made of glass, bronze and wood depicting the lives of cultural icons and lesser known individuals of note. The event is free and open to the public. Light refreshments will be served.
“In each of the mysterious, living icons that the artist Steve Linn presents he narrates his own history and the history of his art. He tells the story of a creator who has known how to draw upon the best of two cultures on either side of the Atlantic; he also—seemingly unintentionally—provides a summary of the history of sculpture, ceaselessly reinvented with pieces of wood, bronze and glass. His works always combine representation and celebration. Steve Linn is at his most impressive in the role of master glassmaker; he takes refuge in a kind of technological lair, starts up powerful compressors (shipped from New York together with his wife’s piano) and then starts the slow, patient, unnerving process of engraving on glass with a high pressure sand jet. Each gesture is decisive in this work; unlike lines plotted by a painter or draftsman, ‘repenting’ is impossible here.
Jean Vaché
Steve Linn was born in Chicago and graduated from the University of Illinois with a BS in agriculture in 1965. As a sculptor, he worked primarily in wood and bronze until the early 1980s, when he added glass to his repertoire. He told the Los Angeles Times in 1992: “I like the danger, the possibility of risk glass poses. It challenges you.” Since 1993, he has maintained a studio in Claret, France. His work has been exhibited around the United States since 1969 and internationally since 1994, and was featured in the 1992 film “A League of Their Own.” He has taught at Smith College in Massachusetts; University of California, Santa Cruz; Pratt Institute in New York; and Centre European de Recherche et de Formation aux Arts du Verriers in France.
Bender Gallery is a contemporary fine art and sculpture gallery in downtown Asheville with a focus on glass art by internationally recognized artists. The gallery has been specializing in glass for fourteen years and the owners have an in depth knowledge about contemporary glass art. The gallery offers a boutique setting with a contemporary modern aesthetic. They also carry abstract and figurative paintings, mixed media, and select ceramic works.
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