Larry Zgoda Exhibit - January 11th - February 23rd, 2015
ARTIST OF STAINED GLASS
Larry
Zgoda creates original art in stained glass. “Much of my art has
resulted from a willingness to explore possibilities within the
parameters of the stained/leaded glass format”. This exploration
has led to many conceptual and technical breakthroughs. For over
thirty years, Zgoda has explored a collection of materials and original
techniques with which to articulate his creative inclinations.
These include: beveled wire and flashed glasses, crown glass, and
Clovis Glass, a treatment in which the separate glass pieces have a
scalloped edge. Finding the availability of high quality stained
glass jewels inadequate, he imports cut-polished, faceted crystals for
his exclusive use. As early as 1980, he pioneered experimental
works with little or no color – Stainless Glass. In 1993, he
began creating architecturally inspired, stained glass sculptures
called Architonomous Art Glass. In 2000, the new millennium found
ornamental, forged steel (wrought iron) armatures being used for their
archaic beauty. The most recent innovation came about in 2011:
Opus Vitri Fusium, fused glass mosaic. Although fused glass is
not new, Zgoda’s treatment of small piece mosaic, grouted with powdered
glass and then fired, represents innovation in glass on glass mosaic
and stained glass. Today, the effort to create new sculptural glass
components leaves all possibilities open. The potential of
these materials and techniques, focused by Zgoda’s energy and
imagination, is immense!
Larry Zgoda views stained glass as an
architectural and ornamental art. His designs are loyal to the
line, pattern, and color of the environments for which they are
intended. “An important thing about ornament is it’s being an
extension of the pattern of the architecture while adding something
extra. This something extra embraces the intuitive character of
composition. It has traits of beauty, vitality and the mystery of
invention”. The compositions are often a confluence of the
geometric lines of architecture and the sinuous, organic lines of
nature. “My designs are generally simple and straightforward
while still revealing subtle complexities”. The juxtaposition of
glasses with different optical qualities makes visually exciting
works. “The prismatic light, generated by these unique
compositions, is often mythologically and metaphysically
transformational”. Genuine and permanent beauty in the
built environment is an original mantra which advocates beauty, as a
measure of value in human works both present and past.
Zgoda
anticipates a renaissance of ornament in architecture. Today, his
focus is on exploring new visual possibilities, in which our ornamental
vocabulary will flourish. Monumentals are free-standing,
architecturally inspired compositions in which Zgoda explores the
potential for a new, ornamental, architectural language.
The Kalo Foundation of Park Ridge
255 N. Northwest Hwy.
Park Ridge, IL 60068