Thomas Glassford
Please join us to celebrate the opening of Afterglow, an installation by Mexico City-based artist Thomas Glassford. The artist will be present at Sicardi Gallery for an opening reception from 6-8 pm, Thursday, March 13.
The exhibition consists of Glassford's large-scale sculptural installation of the same name and a series of recent works on paper. Afterglow (2010) is built from the artist's signature industrial materials: golden aluminum rods support transparent tubes filled with fluorescent liquid. An abundance of green Plexiglas "leaves" spring from the tubing, creating an environment that alludes to tropicalia while hinting at a futuristic, man-made landscape.
Originally commissioned by Mexico City’s Museo Experimental El Eco, Afterglow was shown at The Galleries at Moore College of Art & Design in 2013 for its debut in the United States. The piece suggests a synthesis of nature and geometry: Glassford engages with the human need to structure the organic. Afterglow's shape is informed by the architecture of jungle gyms, forms that simulate nature while using exact proportions. The scaffold-like installation, covered with invasive tropical growth, invites viewers to walk through it and move around it, an experience which evokes childhood exploration.
Born in Laredo, Texas, Thomas Glassford studied art at The University of Texas at Austin, where he received his BFA. He moved to Mexico City in 1990. His work is in several important public and private collections, including The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; The Jumex Collection, Mexico; The Diane and Bruce Halle Collection, Arizona; Museo Universitario de Ciencias y Artes, MUCA, Mexico; CIFO Foundation, Miami; Des Moines Art Center, Iowa; and many others.
