Sculpturesite Gallery is pleased to present Fluid Geometry, a solo exhibition of work by Bay Area sculptor JP Long. There will be an opening reception for the artist on Thursday, June 14th, from 5:30 to 7:30pm and the show will run until September 22nd.
Born in Boston, MA, JP Long began studying illustration at an early age, laying the foundation for his appreciation of art. He received a Jewelry/Metal Arts degree from the California College of Art and Crafts in 2000. After graduating with an impressive portfolio, Long opened a jewelry studio in Berkeley, CA, creating a successful line of bracelets and rings.
Bella Feldman, the prominent and critically acclaimed Bay Area sculptor, hired Long to assist in the fabrication of her work in the fall of 2000. Working in metal on a large scale intrigued the younger artist and soon Long began to create his own work using extruded glass and steel in abstract geometric forms. After seven years, their work maintains a visual dialogue, and Feldman and Long influence each other’s work in ways rarely seen between artists of different generations.
In Long's current exhibition, Fluid Geometry, the artist continues to explore the use of opposing materials. Working with sensuously exaggerated drips of blown glass, he examines the juxtaposition of meticulously fabricated steel with the fragility and feminine quality of delicately formed glass elements. In two evolving series, Edge and Wall, the artist plays with the limits and possibilities of combining these two mediums, exaggerating their forms to increase the tension between them.
Long is often described as a glass artist, but he insists he “uses glass the way a jeweler uses a diamond.” He designs and fabricates strong architectural metal forms which support a jewel-like piece of hand blown glass. “My biggest concern was pushing the malleability of the steel; extending the geometric solid past its principal form into an object of growth and gesture…the glass, still a focal point in the work, now jumps between moving and being frozen in space.”
