Disclaimer: Dale Chihuly, as far as I can tell, is an asshole. He’s one of my guilty pleasures, art-wise, I guess. I went and saw some of his stuff early this year in Miami, with enjoyable results that have graced my TV ever since. Went this weekend with the new camera and Peter and Lizzie to the Chihuly exhibition at the New York Botanical Garden, and had a blast. Some of the pieces were the same as in the Miami show, but others were very different- different enough that I’m very glad I went. Some of my favorites:
Plenty more where those came from– not a good sign that I took 110 pictures and was only able to narrow it down to 70+ for upload. :)
Unfortunately, if you’re in NYC, the exhibition closed Sunday, so you missed it, but he has other shows ongoing and coming up, including (apparently) a return to Fairchild, which I really look forward to seeing at Christmas.
A friend of mine used to work for Dale Chihuly. His opinion of the guy was exactly the same as the one you express in your first sentence.
Heh. Not too surprising; there is a section in one of his videos where he talks about the egos of two other glass artists, and how miraculous it is that he (Chihuly) could get them to set aside their egos and work together. And it is so crystal-clear, despite whatever he’s saying, who has the biggest ego in the room.
The problem is, of course, that it is justified. The stuff truly is spectacularly original, innovative, and beautiful.