Glass sculptures by Tomas Hillebrand

Escher in The Palace enriches its playful second floor with three glass artworks by Tomas Hillebrand. As an artist, Hillebrand (Amsterdam, 1977) graduated from the Gerrit Rietveld Academy with large charcoal drawings, but after his training he turned to making glass sculptures. Whereas glass is often used to make functional objects, Hillebrand’s fascination lies in creating autonomous works of art. In his recent work, the spherical glass sculptures are often silvered, so that the viewer sees himself reflected in the glass.

The sculptures can now be seen as a permanent part of the interactive exhibition on the second floor. The three glass sculptures are characterised by their reflections; a theme that Hillebrand shares with Escher. The mirrors suck the viewer into the sculpture. In doing so, one sees oneself reduced in size through the convexity of the mirror in a space that appears much larger. The reflection distorts the viewer’s world and creates its own new reality. A link can be made between these glass sculptures and prints by Escher, such as Hand with Reflecting Sphere (1935). Both artists share a preference for distorting effects, through which optical games and pleasure also occupy a central place in their work.

21 October 2017- 10 Novemvber 2017, Exhibition ‘Elysium – Barbara Nanning & Tomas Hillebrand’  T² International Contemporary Art Center at Eling Road 1,Yuzhong District, Chongqing, China. This exhibition is organized by T² International Contemporary Art Center, co-organized by Academy of Arts and Crafts, Sichuan Fine Art Institute and Oooit Art. The exhibition is Curated by Mr. Gao Yi and Mr. Xie Yaping (the vice president of Academy of Arts and Crafts, Sichuan Fine Art Institute) and is supported by Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Gemeente Amstelveen, Stubble&Co, TESTBED 2 Culture and Creative Park.

极乐净土在梵文中是幸福所在之处的意思，极乐世界充满了宫殿楼阁，宝花珍禽，它是一切美好事物的代表，是一个人人向往的世界。走进荷兰艺术家托马斯和芭芭拉的玻璃艺术世界，就仿佛看到了极乐世界的美物与福泽，一个会让你迷失自我的神秘之国。玻璃在光线的反射下，将周边的环境映入斑斓的色彩中，细致入微的触感，极致的曲线和令人着迷的色彩让作品天人合一，完美无瑕。观者仿佛在镜中看到另一个世界的自己。

托马斯出生于1977年，毕业于著名的荷兰阿姆斯特丹皇家艺术学院。他对材料的感受独特而敏感，在创作中，他赋予欧洲3500年历史的古老玻璃制造艺术以当代的灵魂，他在有上百年历史的荷兰玻璃工坊，用最古老的方式吹制玻璃，然后采用喷砂，镜面，混合铁，镀银，亮漆，创作出全新的作品。尽管破损率极高，但是经过水与火的历练，这些艺术品仿佛蜕变成了具有灵魂的生物。2013年，托马斯获得Van Vlissingen 艺术基金会奖项，并被送往日本学习漆画。他的作品曾在荷兰皇家莱尔丹的玻璃博物馆，荷兰国家博物馆，扬范德托赫特博物馆等展出，也被各界名人和艺术爱好者所收藏。

芭芭拉1957年出生于荷兰海牙，同样毕业于荷兰阿姆斯特丹皇家艺术学院。她是荷兰重要的玻璃艺术家，她的作品在欧洲，日本各大美术馆和画廊展出，像阿姆斯特丹市立美术馆，德国科斯费尔德玻璃博物馆，日本著名的小柳画廊和比利时根特设计博物馆都举办过个展。从1978年至今，芭芭拉参加了无数的群展和设计博览会，从2010年起，她每年都参加巴塞尔和美国迈阿密设计博览会。2016年芭芭拉获得德国Art Aurea 手工艺艺术大奖。此外芭芭拉的作品被世界各大机构收藏，比如瑞士洛桑设计与当代应用艺术博物馆，法国巴黎装饰艺术博物馆，德国汉堡艺术与工艺美术博物馆，美国波士顿美术馆和台北立莺歌陶瓷博物馆。

Spring 2015 Article in Top Time Magazine written by professor and art collector Ruud Lapré.

Premier presentation of 2 of my new monumental artworks coated with Frech polish at Van der Horst #122 at PAN Amsterdam.

Press release in Dutch:
PERSBERICHT

Tomas Hillebrand toont nieuw werk op de Kunstrai
04-06 t/m 09-6-2014
Stand 36, solopresentatie, Huub Hannen Galerie

Vorig jaar kreeg Tomas Hillebrand (1977) een toekenning van De stichting Van Vlissingen Art Foundation voor zijn autonome sculpturen in glas. Hiervoor deed hij onderzoek naar Japanse lakkunst; Urushi en maakte een reis naar Japan. De tentoonstelling “Tomas Hillebrand in Japan” was in september 2013 te zien in Museum Jan van der Togt in Amstelveen en het gelijknamige boek werd uitgegeven door De stichting Van Vlissingen Art Foundation. Zijn nieuwe collectie werken zijn voor het eerst te zien tijdens de Kunstrai bij Huub Hannen Galerie stand 36.

Tomas Hillebrand streeft in zijn werk een hedendaagse interpretatie na van de 19de-eeuwse kunststroming de Romantiek. De relatie tussen het nietige individu en de natuur verwondert de kunstenaar aanhoudend. Met name het natuurlijke materiaal, de ambachtelijke verwerking en de grote concentratie waarmee het werk wordt gemaakt, spreken Hillebrand aan.

In zijn autonome objecten domineert de natuur en het landschap. Het gaat hem waarbij niet om een natuurgetrouwe weergave van de wereld om hem heen maar juist om het weergeven van een vertekende werkelijkheid zodat er zich een eigen realiteit in ontvouwt die onder meer aanspraak maakt op het gegeven van de herinnering. Dat aspect werd versterkt toen Tomas uit de nalatenschap van een oom uit Goes een kist en diverse doosjes met uiteenlopende spullen ontving die hij interpreteerde als bewaarplaatsen voor herinneringen. Al die objecten waren voor hem niet zozeer spullen die herinneringen opriepen, maar die een aanzet kunnen geven tot verbeelding. Dat uitgangspunt komt terug in zijn glazen (sneeuw)bollen en met name in de basementen vervaardigd uit andere materialen. Deze basementen of “sokkeldozen” hebben een ruimte waarin iets in kan worden opgeborgen.
Hillebrand heeft voor deze nieuwe collectie met meesters in hun ambacht samengewerkt. Een aantal “sokkeldozen” zijn gemaakt van schellak-politoer, in de 19e eeuw een veelvuldig gebruikte lak. Andere sculpturen zijn voorzien van bladgoud geïnspireerd door een bezoek aan “The Golden Hall of Chusonji Temple” in Hiraizumi, Japan. Het bladgoud is uitgevoerd door specialist Jeroen Wilbrink welke onlangs ook de lier van het Concertgebouw heeft voorzien van goud.

photo: untitled, French polish, blown glass, water, mirror, 36 x 33 cm, year: 2014

Each year, the Corning Museum of Glass conducts a worldwide competition to select 100 images of new works in glass. Objects considered excellent from any of several viewpoints- such as function, subject matter, aesthetics, and technique – will be chosen. The works are chosen by a changing jury of curators, artists, designers, art dealers, and critics.

The deadline for submissions is October 1, 2013. In late November or early December, a jury selects 100 images from the submissions. New Glass Review is published every spring by The Corning Museum of Glass in conjunction with Neues Glas (New Glass), published by Ritterbach Verlag, Frechen, Germany, and GLASS: The UrbanGlass Art Quarterly, published by UrbanGlass, Brooklyn, New York.

Publication: 

“Tomas Hillebrand in Japan”, written by Marcel Brouwer and with landscape photography by Atsushi Okuyama, De stichting Van Vlissingen Art Foundation (2013)

The book is for sale in The Netherlands at:

Athenaeum,  Spui 14-16,  Amsterdam

Stedelijk Museum bookshop

Rijksmuseum bookshop

Museum Jan van der Togt

Glass blowing – the pure form of glass

GLASSBLOWING IS A LABOUR-INTENSIVE AND PRECISE PROFESSION THAT REQUIRES WELL-EQUIPPED WORKSHOPS AND SKILLS. THERE ARE ONLY A FEW CENTRES IN THE NETHERLANDS WHERE THIS PROFESSION IS PRACTICED. THERE IS FOR INSTANCE THE TRADITIONAL GLASS WORKS IN THE TOWN OF LEERDAM WHERE ARTISTS HAD THEIR FIRST GLASS DESIGNS MANUFACTURED IN THE EARLY 20TH CENTURY.

Some well-known names are associated with the Leerdam glassworks. Among them are the Dutch architects Charles Peter Cornelis de Bazel and Hendrik Petrus Berlage and the American Frank Lloyd Wright. These impressive contacts were established in the period between the wars by the then factory director Peter Marinus Cochius. His former director’s mansion still houses the Dutch National Glass Museum. The glass-blowing section of the glass works – nowadays called “Royal Leerdam Crystal” – is still active today. It is part of the “Royal Delft” company, which also includes one of the oldest Dutch pottery factories “The Koninklijke Porceleyne Fles”, and it still produces glass designed by artists.

Another important centre for the production of glass is the Van Tetterode Glass Studio in Amsterdam, a company that was founded in 1919. Besides the production of blown glass, this company also focuses on the execution of monumental projects often involving flat glass, steel or a combination of the two. Van Tetterode has a highly professional glassworks which houses one of the largest glass furnaces in Europe. This oven was purchased from the English glassblower and artist Neil Wilkin. Like the glassworks in Leerdam, Van Tetterode mainly realises the designs of architects and artists. One of the most skilled glassblowers who works there is Richard Price, born in Hampshire in England in 1960. He not only produces his own glass art there, but also realises the designs of fellow artists.

After finishing his education in England, Richard Price in 1982 started at the Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam in the glass department, which was at that time headed by glass artists Mieke Groot and Richard Meitner. In the following ten years, Price assisted glass artists in France and Italy, including the world-famous glassblower Lino Tagliapietra. He developed such an all-round level – besides glassblowing he also specialised in the pâte de verre technique, casting glass into moulds – that he reached the level of master craftsman. Price currently divides his time between the Netherlands, where he works for Van Tetterode, and Thailand where he resides a few months every year.

Text written by Marcel Brouwer | Translation by Bert Verheij | Photography by Niculai Constantinescu

Exhibition 5th September 2013 “Tomas Hillebrand in Japan”, Museum Jan van der Togt, Amstelveen

Each year the Van Vlissingen Art Foundation supports a talented contemporary artist deserving of more attention. The foundation was established by John and Marine Fentener van Vlissingen, who are also the founders of BCD Holdings, one of the world’s largest travel companies.

Part of the support being provided for 2013 has been granted to Tomas Hillebrand (born 1977) who makes autonomous sculptures in glass. Not in glass alone however, as Hillebrand’s bulbous glass figures, which are reminiscent of snowballs, are often placed on bases made from other materials. The works constitute imaginary worlds, miniature biotopes, water-filled spheres whose bottoms are reflected and in which the viewer can observe the contours of a landscape.

Tomas Hillebrand strives in his work for a contemporary interpretation of 19th century Romantic art. The relationship between the inconsequential individual and nature holds a persistent fascination for the artist.

Japan

While travelling in Japan in September 2012, Hillebrand recorded the awesome forces of nature, in collaboration with Japanese photographer Atsushi Okuyama.Another of the trip’s objectives was to study how Japanese lacquer work (urushi) is produced. Urushi is a traditional craftsmanship considered as the most difficult in the world. Hillebrand gained knowledge of production methods by experiencing the extractingproces of raw materials from the urushi tree and meeting lacquer work master Mr. Tetsuo Gido who executed laquerwork for several sculptures.

A book about Tomas Hillebrand’s experiences in Japan, written by Marcel Brouwer at the commission of the Van Vlissingen Art Foundation, is also being published. This publication, which includes plates of Hillebrand’s work, images from the creative process and a photographic travelogue by Atsushi Okuyama, will appear as part of the Inspiration series.

Photography by: Erik & Petra Hesmerg