mark reigelman: breaking the bottle at heller gallery

mark reigelman: breaking the bottle at heller gallery all images courtesy of mark reigelman

mark reigelman: breaking the bottle heller gallery, new york city on now until july 30, 2011

brooklyn-based artist mark reigelman has created ‘breaking the bottle‘, a site-specific installation on display at new york city’s heller gallery. taking cues from the handmade glass defenses found on fences and rooftops worldwide, this work encrusts twelve household objects, including chairs, lamps, and a bearskin rug, in protective layers of broken shards.

‘breaking the bottle’ chairs

the collection is placed on a pedestal with dimensions matching the artist’s childhood living room, arranged to suggest a familiar domestic landscape. however, the green color and crystalline surface texture evoke clipped, performative topiaries of the outdoors: the innate danger and hostility of glass shards make them useful barriers, but they also greatly isolate the objects contained within.

reigleman’s abrasive integration of this material in a typically comforting interior subverts expectations to examine increasingly blurred distinctions between public and private domain.

all objects are true to scale

twelve pieces of furniture have been encrusted in glass

tough kitty

detail of the glass shards

photo studio installation process

installation view of ‘breaking the glass’ at hellery gallery

the objects’ functionality is maintained, such as the lamp’s illumination and the mirror’s reflective properties, to convey a familiar scene

glass covering in progress

integrating reigelman’s background in both sculpture and industrial design, the systematic process of ‘breaking the bottle’ took three months to complete. each object is composed of about 40 layers of glass shards, and the installation altogether uses over 1,000 pounds of 100% recycled glass and 20 gallons of adhesive epoxy resin.

the glass setting into place

up close look at the production process

mark reigelman (11)