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Whether stained or textured, colored or shaped, glass boasts a magical ability, one that can elevate and warp spaces, objects, and surfaces alike. That notion is at the heart of Marius Boekhorst’s newest solo exhibition at Emanuele Catellani Contemporary (ECC), a by-appointment art advisory and curatorial studio based in Chieri, Italy.
The showcase revolves around Violet, a sculpture that cleverly combines a patterned glass case with a lush bouquet of flowers. From a distance, the work seems relatively mundane, perhaps resembling a commonplace—though nevertheless elegant—centerpiece. But once proximity is gained, Violet’s conceit immediately becomes clear. The artist’s delicately textured glass distorts the flowers it envelops, transforming petals and stems through optical abstraction. The result is a canvas in miniature, where the flowers appear to have been rendered with loose, almost Impressionist brushstrokes.
“The patterned glass breaks the [flowers’] exuberant colors up into illusive tones that resemble an abstract painting,” Boekhorst writes in an Instagram post. “The glass serves as the canvas and the flowers as the paint.”
As a “three-dimensional still life,” in the artist’s words, Violet challenges expectation without being unapproachable. In fact, the sculpture encourages an attentive eye, specifically designed for spatial engagement and repeated viewing from various different angles. “This combination,” Boekhorst continues, “creates an illusion with an interplay of transparency, blurriness, visibility, and distance.”
This isn’t the first time that Boekhorst has experimented with abstracting the natural world with the help of glass. Violet Frosted offers a similar exploration of the “nostalgic sentiment derived from something as commonplace as patterned glass,” per the artist. As its title suggests, though, the work is even hazier than its counterpart, thanks to its frosted composition. This texture is equally innovative, but may remind us more of Pointillism than of Impressionism. The artistic technique, which emerged in the mid-1880s and was pioneered by artists such as Georges Seurat and Paul Signac, involves distinct dots of pure color, carefully arranged in patterns that, when viewed in their entirety, reveal a comprehensive image. Violet Frosted operates within that framework, all while pushing the material boundaries of glass and, by extension, of flowers.
“[Violet] invites viewers to reconsider the everyday by shifting perspective on the overlooked,” ECC writes of the exhibition. “Through this reframing, Boekhorst reveals the quiet and often unexpected beauty within the mundane, discarded, and nostalgic.”
Violet is now on view at ECC through May 31, 2026. To learn more about the artist and his exciting designs, visit Marius Boekhorst’s website and follow him on Instagram.
Multidisciplinary artist Marius Boekhorst combines optical abstraction and the natural world through a clever glass sculpture.
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Titled Violet, the work comprises a patterned glass case containing a bouquet of flowers that, when viewed up-close, resembles an Impressionist still life.
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Exhibition Information:
Marius Boekhorst
ECCPROJECTS #35
May 4–May 31, 2026
Emanuele Catellani Contemporary
Via Martiri della Libertà 2, 10023, Chieri, Italy
Marius Boekhorst: Website | Instagram
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