Spanish Orange Black Macchia with Sable Lip Wrap, 2006, 19 x 36 x 25″
“The Macchia series began with my waking up one day wanting to use all 300 of the colours in the hot shop.” Dale Chihuly describes the origins of one of his most iconic series of blown glass objects in characteristically down to earth terms. Chihuly always speaks about his work with reference to the processes involved in its production. The instability of blown glass, and the technical requirements involved in controlling it in its molten form, dictate the final product to a far greater extent than most other media.
Even though the Macchia have the appearance of vessels, they are in no way functional. With an undulating lip marking the aperture between a vibrantly coloured mottled outer surface and a raw, almost organic interior, they could also be seen as tropical coral vividly imagined in glass. The tendency for blown glass to create billowing, rounded shapes reminiscent of some naturally occurring forms is an almost unavoidable result of the way it is produced, and the Macchia series is perhaps the most uninhibited expression of this. Like Jackson Pollock exploiting the viscosity of enamel paint straight from the pot, Chihuly allows the inherent organicism of his medium to dictate the results.
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