Klaus Weschenfelder

Most of the subjects of Lucio Bubacco's (b. 1957) glass art are provocative and polarising; at the same time they are sensual and beguiling. In a kind of erotic 'trance dance' - Mephistophelian and frequently riotous - nightmarish fabulous creatures and mythological phantasms virtually undulate about each other. His technical virtuosity in creative execution is unparalleled, for the Murano-born glass artist has elevated the Venetian flame technique to a new level of skill and complexity. Bubacco has captured human feelings and emotions in the masterly play of gestures and muscles of the glass figures featured in his burlesque installations. Full of wit and irony he thus explores the limits of kitsch without overstepping them. Follow him into a world of carnevalesque orgies, crystalline incubi and erotic fantasies in glass!

The German-Swedish artist Ann Wolff (born in 1937) is one of the most significant and exciting proponents of the European studio glass movement. She has an expert understanding of the characteristics of glass and how to show off the complete spectrum of its diverse possibilities of expression. The publication offers an extensive overview of the period of work over the last ten prolific years. With most of her large-format sculptures, the medium of glass plays a central role, but Ann Wolff is not restricted to it alone; she also uses other materials, such as bronze, concrete or aluminium. The catalogue is boosted by additional selected drawings and pastels. Common to these is the eponymous motif of 'persona', the character mask, which expresses the artist's continuous debate with philosophical and existential issues. In doubling and mirror imaging, in veiling and exposing, she revolves around fundamental questions of the Self and the Other and her bilateral perception. Ann Wolff holds an accolade from the Glass Art Awards of the Glass Art Society, Seattle, and of the European Culture Prize Pro Europe. She is represented in numerous prestigious museums and collections in Europe, the United States and Japan, including The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Victoria and Albert Museum, London; Nationalmuseum, Stockholm; Designmuseum Danmark, Copenhagen; Hokkaido Museum of Modern Art, Sapporo; Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe, Hamburg; Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris; and Musée de design et d'arts appliqués contemporains, Lausanne. Text in English and German.