Self-taught artist Ben Young has been creating glass sculptures for over 15 years. His beautifully layered pieces capture the spirit of the ocean through their combination of textured concrete and semi-translucent glass. Each hand-cut piece is a dissection of the sea, cutting away to give a glimpse of the underwater terrain, while delicate bronze compliments, originally sculpted by Young in wax, set off the work.
Young's work is a fusion of materials and textures that plays with light and space. “The way I use the glass enables me to portray so many different elements of my conceptual ideas,” he says. “Lighting plays a large part in the presentation of my pieces. When lit from beneath, the light reflects and gives off the illusion of the piece being brought to life. I hope viewers might imagine the work as something ‘living' that creates the illusion of space, movement, depth and sense of spatial being. I like to play with the irony between the glass being a solid material and how I can form such natural and organic shapes.”
As a professional boat builder and passionate surfer, Young's love for the ocean shines through each sculpture. The layering of glass creates different tonalities to mimic the clear waters that surround him in his native Australia—almost an homage to his homeland. Currently represented by galleries in New York, Singapore, Auckland, and Melbourne, Young is available for collaborations and commissions.
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via [Creative Boom]
