Exhibition “Elysium” – Barbara Nanning and Tomas Hillebrand
Artists: Barbara Nanning and Tomas Hillebrand
Curators: Gao Yi, Xie Yaping
Exhibition Period: 21 Oct to 10 Nov 2017
Venue: T² International Contemporary Art Center
Address: Eling Road 1,Yuzhong District, Chongqing, China
Co-organized by: Academy of Arts and Crafts, Sichuan Fine Art Institute and Oooit Art
Supported by: Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Gemeente Amstelveen, Stubble&Co, TESTBED2 Culture and Creative Park.
In Sanskrit, Elysium is the place for happiness. The elysian world is full of palaces and pavilions, treasures flowers and rare birds which is the representative of all good things and a world that everyone yearns for. Walking into the glass world of Dutch artists Tomas and Barbara, you will see the beauty and bliss of paradise in which you may deeply lose. The light is reflected in glass, which dyes the surrounding environment with the enchanting color. Meticulous sense of touch, extreme curve and fascinating color reflect the face of the audience in a wonderland.
Barbara was born in Den Hague in 1957 and also graduated from prestigious Gerrit Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam, Netherlands. She is a very important Dutch glass artist. Her works have been presented in many museums and galleries in Europe, USA and Japan. She had solo exhibition in Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, Glasmuseum Alter Hof Herding in Coesfeld Germany, Design Museum Gent in Belgium, Famous Gallery Koyanagi in Tokyo etc. Since 1978, her works have been presented in many group exhibitions and design art fairs all over the world. Since 2010, her works are presented every year in Art Basel and Miami Design Art Fair. In 2016 Barbara won de prize of Art Aurea. Her works are widely collected by famous organizations such as: Museum of Design and Contemporary Applied Arts Lausanne in Switzerland, Musee des Arts Decoratifs Paris in France, Museum fur Kunst end Gewerbe Hamburg in Germany, Museum for Fine Arts Boston in the USA, Taipei County Yingko Ceramics Museum in Taipei etc.
Tomas was born in 1977 and graduated from the prestigious Gerrit Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam, Netherlands. He was uniquely sensitive to art materials during art creation. In the hundred years old Dutch glass studio, he endowed contemporary soul to Europe’s ancient glass with 3500 years of history by the ancient craftsmanship like abrasive blasting, silver-plated, mixture of iron, silvering, lacquer varnish etc. to create new works. Although the breakage rate is extremely high，these artworks are transformed into live creatures by the forge of water and fire. In 2013, Thomas was awarded the Van Vlissingen art foundation award and was sent to Japan to study lacquer painting. His artworks had been exhibited in the glass museum of the Netherlands, the national museum of the Netherlands, the Jan Van der Togt Museum etc., and collected by celebrities and art lovers from all over the world.