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Using the technique of lampworking, Venetian Maestro Gianni Toso transforms tiny rods of colored glass into animated figures to fill his lively tableaux. Giannis his lampworked and blown characters play out their roles in his tales. Sometimes the artist, who now lives in the U.S., pits Hassidic Jews against Catholic clerics in jousts on a chessboard. In other scenes, he chronicles the Studio Glass Movement with its leaders clearly recognizable: a courtly Harvey Littleton, an extravagantly moustachioed Joel Philip Myers, a cherubic Dale Chihuly complete with patch. All are expertly drawn in threads of glass. Using the skills passed down through generations, Toso uses his prodigious talent with a torch to create delightful commentaries on life, all filled with virtuosic details like the minute earlocks of a rabbi or spectacles perched on a monks nose created with a touch of glass.
View all artwork by Gianni Toso
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