Untitled (Inflatable) no. 43

Matthew Szösz, Untitled (Inflatable) no. 43, 2010, window glass, 20 x 20 x 10 in. (50.8 x 50.8 x 25.4 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Elmerina and Paul Parkman in honor of the fiftieth anniversary of American Studio Glass, 2012.41, © 2008, C. Matthew Szösz

Artwork Details

Title: Untitled (Inflatable) no. 43
Artist: Matthew Szösz
Date: 2010
Location: Not on view
Dimensions: 20 x 20 x 10 in. (50.8 x 50.8 x 25.4 cm)
Copyright: © 2008, C. Matthew Szösz
Credit Line: Gift of Elmerina and Paul Parkman in honor of the fiftieth anniversary of American Studio Glass
Mediums Description: window glass
Classifications: Decorative Arts
Glass
Object Number: 2012.41
Linked Open Data: https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/2012.41

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Meet glass artist Matthew Szösz, who was featured in the exhibition "40 under 40: Craft Futures" at the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

MATTHEW SZÖSZ: I'm Matthew Szösz. I'm a glass artist. I reside in Oakland, California, and I've recently had the honor of becoming part of the Renwick Gallery permanent collection.

I came to glass by accident. I was originally trained as a furniture designer. Because of that, I never learned a lot of the traditional and immediate skill sets that people who are familiar with glass, glassblowing in particular. Because of that, I've always made my own ways of working with glass.

The Renwick purchased a piece that's from one of my better-known series. It's inflated sheet glass. They blow up like an inflatable raft, or a balloon, out of flat sheets. It’s a little bit different dynamic, and it allows the glass to actually dictate what the final shape will be. I kind of have an idea, but then the physics of the heat and the pressure actually lend the end shape to the piece. For me, that's very exciting to have the piece unfold for me as well as for everybody else.

I don't know that I've had an overarching goal in mind. It's more of a process of learning, exploring, and experimenting to find out what I'm doing and what it means and what the next thing is.

I think the thing that was really impressive about the Renwick for me and really made me excited to be here was their willingness to take risks on younger artists right now, which can be a very rare thing in such an established institution. Particularly the show that they have up right now, I think, is incredibly important in the development of the next generation of American craft artists.

I think right now is actually a very interesting time in glass. I think it's a period of transition. There are kind of natural cycles to everything. I think glass is finishing up with one cycle that has kind of made it familiar and popular in America. Right now, we're just starting to grow into a cycle where it will become a bit more complicated medium, one that relates to the larger world of contemporary art and other ideas about making a bit more than it has in a very recent past.

Related Books

40 Under 40: Craft Futures

40 Under 40: Craft Futures examines the expanding role of the handmade in contemporary culture through the work of the next generation of artists. Organized in celebration of the fortieth anniversary of the Renwick Gallery, the Smithsonian's branch museum for American craft and decorative arts, this project gathers forty makers born since 1972, the year the Renwick opened to the public. Apparent are rapidly evolving notions of craft, ranging from traditional media, such as ceramics and jewelry, to fields as varied as sculpture, industrial design, performance and installation art, fashion design, sustainable manufacturing, and mathematics.