Chihuly Black at Diane Farris Gallery
October 4 – November 1, 2008

Chihuly's black works combine the dominant use of black intensified with the dynamic use of color throughout each blown sculpture. Dramatic contrast forces the eye directly to the form and secondly to the exuded colors. Burned Drawings, an essay by Dale Chihuly, introduces his series of drawings that radiate a potent energy. Experimental processes such as torching, using metal shavings, iridescent and metallics soon became the primary elements for these drawings.


"I started the Black Series with making the Black Cylinders. I wasn't necessarily going to do anything else in black, but I went ahead and did the Soft Cylinders in black, the Baskets in black, the Venetians in black, the Macchia in black, and about that time I kind of felt it was a series unto itself." Dale Chihuly, 2008

Chihuly Black is the largest formatted publication on the artist’s work to date and flaunts an embossed leather-bound cover. Look past the cover and find the silver-tipped pages which lead the way to an awe-inspiring collection of twelve fascinating series.

Barbara Rose is the author of American Art Since 1900 and of major monographs on several American artists of our time. Currently she is the co-director at the Istituto d'Arte e Architettura, American University, in Corciano, Italy.