As I walked into Sofa Chicago early November at Navy Pier, passing through the isle of mosaic work from medieval era displayed by Tiffany Gallery, I got excited of what I was about to see this year.
I waited in the line for a ticket, minding my own business by checking other attires. As soon as I walked in the large room of beer ceiling of zigzag bars, the small stalls of creative art work transformed the space completely.
The first thought that came to my mind was where to start from. When I was walking from one display to another, so many exquisite art pieces caught my eye, making it difficult to move forward, but I forced myself registering as much as I could.
It was almost impossible for me to pick a favorite medium or even figure out the hardest one. All the art pieces was created with such finesse and mastering, respecting the integrity of the medium that it not only carried the artists vision, but seemed like it carried the artist itself through its delicate shells.
Every medium, whether it was wood, glass, paper, metal, terra-cotta or marble, were completely transformed from the most brittle texture to the most rigid form. It became mind boggling to see that a single medium can be beautifully manipulated into hundreds of forms and applications.
The artists and galleries that stood out to me the most was Tim Shaw, the artist from the Kirra Galleries creating hypnotic and mesmerizing feather brush effect on glass vases.
Other artists from the same Australian gallery also produced beautiful works of art including Crystal Stubbs, combining two techniques of hot glass process and the casting process, portraying small human figuring balancing glass structures, and Harriet Schwarzrock, showing movement and growth through vibrant colors and soft curves of glass.
Another artist from Turkey, Ipek Kotan, creating beautiful Limoges porcelain vessel with bronze glaze and amber crackle glaze, which was actually encouraged to feel. Creations from Metal Smith and collectors of wood art also took my breath away from exquisite contemporary jewelry work to delicate wood shaping.
One day was just not enough to observe and enjoy all the art work migrated from different parts of the world to Sofa Chicago. I cannot wait for next year’s exhibit as it was worth every penny of those fifteen dollars.
