Exhibitionism
Something in the season just makes leaded panes of glass apropos
Reviewed by Wayne Alan Brenner, Fri., Dec. 30, 2011
DeCola & Eusebi Studio
701 Tillery Ste. A-11, 389-2266www.decola-eusebi.com
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Beautiful work is beautiful work no matter what the season, of course, but there's something about the year-end festivities that makes panels of leaded glass seem more apropos than at other times of the year. Maybe it's the way transparent miracles of glass collage remind a person of the fanciest (and much smaller) ornaments on the luckiest of trees. Maybe it's the depths of winter (even the relatively laughable depths here in ATX) that urge the eyes to yearn for art that allows light to pass through its structured beauty. Maybe it's how you wait for Christmas to really splurge, giftwise, on something like the glorious works in glass available at DeCola & Eusebi Studio.
Whatever the reason, that's our story and we're sticking to it, much as the sight of the studio's large, stunning panels incorporating antique and machine-rolled glass, bevels, prisms, and jewels will stick, illuminated, in your most ornate memory palace. There's a subtle and overarching style to what DeCola & Eusebi create – a welcome restraint in the use of colored glass, for one thing (they tend to use clear but often textured pieces), a sort of geometric throughline that bears comparison to designs by Rennie Mackintosh (and if that name's familiar, you'll understand just one reason why the studio's work is so recommended).
Since we're hoping this review will send you scouting out the D & E space in the small complex on Tillery, we'd be remiss if we didn't mention that Steve Dubov's Atelier 3-D, featuring a whole different take on glass (and other forms of) sculpture, is right down the hall; you'd do well to wander farther and find Iona Handcrafted Books in a smaller building behind the main one.
Again, the DeCola & Eusebi venue is open year-round, but as we approach that time between the end of one year and the beginning of the next, it might be best to consider what's halfway liquid and halfway solid – glass – and see if it doesn't light up your holidays like some shining star over Bethlehem.
