PAUL MARIONI
Paul Marioni is a founding member of the American Studio Glass movement and in love with the medium for its distinct ability to capture and manipulate light. Techniques have been explored and mastered but always in service of ideas about the complexities and foibles of being human. No subject seems off limits to this artist-renegade-philosopher-humorist. Blue Bagman both entertains and threatens, with a sumptuous, striated blue glass form, devilish ears, and tentacled arms reaching out. The sharp-toothed caricature on the Jaguar Vase melds levity and ferocity on a classically elegant and exquisitely-colored vase.
“Most of my work has been figurative and about human nature: what we do, why we do it, how we ornament ourselves, our heroes, historical moments, humor, sexuality, exotic and/or lost cultures, and a constant questioning. My work is often and purposefully left open to interpretation. I don’t want to tell the viewer what to think, but rather cause them to think. Science is used to explain, I believe that art is meant to evoke and engage.”
