The Joseph Gross Gallery is joining the larger Tucson Arts community in bringing a community wide exhibition event together for the Tucson Festival of Glass, “Viva el Vidrio.” The Latin American Glass Art Invitational will showcase the work of six international glass artists from Mexico, Chile, and Venezuela.
Facets of culture and communication inform each artist’s work. Edison Osorio Zapata explores “the nature of failed communications and the ways comprehension becomes distorted by cultural misunderstanding” through fused glass pieces. The sculptures manifest as pixilated screens meant to distort moving images.
Chilean artist, Josefina Muñoz investigates urban development and the collateral decay of history through architecture left in the wake of such growth. Muñoz’s float glass painted landscapes are particularly remarkable in light of the recent earthquake centered just outside of Santiago, Chile.
Additionally, Susan Plum’s work, most recently shown in the Ni Una Mas (Not One More): The Juarez Murders exhibition at Drexel University’s Leonard Pearlstein Gallery strongly resonates with our community by virtue of our close relationship with the border. The complexity of glass is vastly different from other traditional materials and each artist manipulates this medium in completely different ways, physically and conceptually.