Chihuly: Through the Looking Glass

"Chihuly: Through the Looking Glass" recently on view at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts was a spectacular arrangement of Dale Chihuly's most inventive glass sculptures.   Some of the artworks were new, but most of the installations were reconfigurations of the 2008 exhibit "Chihuly at the De Young Museum."  The nine environments, theatrically staged throughout the Gund Gallery, were for the most part, a visual feast for the eyes. Unfortunately, the exhibit failed to capture the otherworldly magic usually found in Chihuly's outdoor displays.

Persian Wall (2011) was the first piece I encountered as I descended the stairs leading into the exhibition. Spread out along the walls and on a knee-high platform were saffron and tangerine biomorphic forms edged with a ribbon of blue glass. Clustered in groups of twos and threes, the assembly resembled gargantuan flower petals in full bloom. Lit from above, the diffuse light created golden, spiral patterns that were reflected on the white and black surfaces of the space.

Persian Wall, 2011

Just inside the entry way was Scarlet Icicle Chandelier (2011), a multi-point star sculpture hung high from the ceiling. This was not Chihuly's most impressive work in the show and I found myself more intrigued by the tenebrous shadows cast upon the gray walls. The flat, triangular shapes mimicking geometric foliage called to mind Aaron Douglas's modernist paintings, particularly his mural the Aspects of Negro Life (1934).

Ikebana Boat (2011), which was inspired by a trip Chihuly took to Finland in 1995, was a visual tour de force. Spotlighted on a polished, black stage was a bleached, wooden boat overflowing with a profusion of writhing, kaleidoscopic pieces. Diagonally set in the middle of the platform, the boat listed dramatically to one side as if overburdened by its abundant cargo.

Ikebana Boat, 2011

Arranged in a dimly lit, narrow hallway were an assortment of squat vessels decorated in drab shades of brown, magenta, gold and blue. The dark area and subdued palette contrasted so sharply with the illumination of the previous gallery that the space appeared gloomy. The shift in ambiance made the Northwest Room (ND) seem striking…at first. One wall was covered from ceiling to floor with multicolored, multi-patterned wool blankets and on varnished wooden shelves and a table were opulent displays of woven baskets interspersed with cream color glass containers stacked in decorative arrangements. However, after spending some time in the environment, the orderly installation began to look like a chic, Native American inspired, home décor boutique.

Mille Fiori, 2011

The botanical inspired Mille Fiori, (One Thousand Flowers, 2011), was a fantastical garden-like assemblage bursting with a rainbow of colors. The variegated flower forms were densely amassed on a long, rectangular platform to maximize their optical effect. This environmental theme was recapitulated in the adjacent gallery with the work Persian Ceiling (2011), which evoked an aquarium experience. The translucent roof teemed with a menagerie of sea forms—starfish, urchins and octopi.

The penultimate gallery contained six of Chihuly's signature chandeliers suspended at varying heights from the top of the room like florid stalactites. The final installation in the exhibition was Neodymium Reeds (2011), an array of vertical, lilac stalks rooted in a series of overlapping logs. Although the rugged texture of the wood paired with the smooth glass (glass is made from sand) was an interesting combination, the coupling felt oddly unnatural.

Neodymium Reeds, 2011

This sense of unnaturalness permeated the exhibit causing it to feel devoid of life. The installations seemed too polished and stagy and the rectilinear rooms and intense lighting too unyielding. In an outdoor environment the natural light suffuses through the sculptures and emits a soft, empyrean glow. Moreover, the juxtaposition of Chihuly's biomorphic sculptures to the natural environment evokes a harmonious otherworldly atmosphere. The title of the exhibition, taken from Lewis Carroll's novel about Alice's adventures in an alternate world, was supposed to instill a sense of the enchantment; however, the feeling of magical wonderment, which is such a prominent part of Chihuly's botanical garden displays, was lost in the museum setting.