Artist # 29 Josiah McElheny

I read that Josiah McElheny creates objects out of blown glass that he combines with photographs, text, and museological displays. His purpose is to evoke notions of meaning and memory. (Found here)

When I saw pictures of McElheny's work I knew that he worked with glass mainly because most of the pictures were glass objects.



I can't tell what this picture is of, but it looks pretty cool. I learned that he recreates glass objects found in renaissance paintings, or maybe objects of glass that were the only remnants left of households from years earlier. He also works with storytelling and a form of historical fiction. He wants the viewers to decide if the story is true or not, or if it's made up. This reminded me of our museum projects because we had the option to do the same kind of thing.



His case that his display is in becomes part of the display here as well. I don't know if the case is made of glass or mirrors, it's hard to tell. At first I thought it was glass, and that makes more sense because he works with glass, but after looking at it more I thought it could be mirrors too. If it's glass, I like the effect it gives of the room around it. It would be interesting if it was mirrors also, reflecting everything else around it.



This piece is titled, The End of Modernity. It's meant to be our universe. McElheny wanted to make a scientifically sound sculpture of how the universe formed and this was his take on it. It reminds me of Freidman's sculpture with the toothpicks. I think the title is Starburst.

I like the look of Josiah McElheny's work because it is very clean and well crafted. It is all put together and displayed very nicely. Glass always seems to give that clean feeling as well.