Coinciding with the presentation of Collidoscope: de la Torre Brothers Retro-Perspective, The Corning Museum of Glass (CMoG) has commissioned brothers and artistic duo Einar and Jamex de la Torre to create a new, large-scale work for the permanent collection. From May 6 to May 19, 2024, the brothers will be in residence at the Museum to create glass elements for the new mixed-media work, which will be installed during the special exhibition celebrating their artistic practice. While at CMoG, they will collaborate with the Museum’s Hot Glass Team to create a new work in their distinctive and colorful style. Visitors will have the opportunity to watch them working in daily live shows and livestreamed sessions. The exhibition will open on May 18, 2024, and the commissioned work will be installed in June.
This commission will be an opportunity for us to embrace the things we love most about working with glass. Glassblowing is a spontaneous spectator sport that necessitates collaboration with other talented craftspeople. We have sketches and ideas, of course, but this commission is going to be a product of its birthplace and a ‘shoot from the hip’ artistic mentality—the resulting piece will be entirely unique to CMoG. - Einar de la Torre
The commission, currently planned at monumental scale, is inspired by Aztec calendar stones, a motif that the de la Torre Brothers have been exploring since the early 2000s. The wall-mounted, circular sculpture will be 12 feet in diameter—one of the de la Torre Brothers’ largest works of this kind to date. Composed of different blown-glass elements created in the Museum’s Amphitheater Hot Shop, backlit lenticular panels and prints, cast resin elements, and a series of purchased elements, the materials will be applied in a series of concentric circular designs, in as many as four layers, to an aluminum base structure.
Einar and Jamex’s work presents complex identities through the medium of glass, connecting found and made objects in an evolutionary approach. Their vibrant mixed-media pieces expand our understanding of how contemporary glass artists can reflect a nuanced, ever-changing world. We are thrilled that one of their thought-provoking works will join the permanent collection of the Museum to delight and challenge visitors for many years to come. -Tami Landis, Curator of Postwar and Contemporary Glass at CMoG
CMoG’s Collidoscope installation is the first scheduled viewing on the East Coast and is the only one that provides an opportunity for the brothers to work on site prior to the exhibition opening. The exhibition deeply focuses on the de la Torre Brothers’ gallery work, one prong of their three-pronged approach to their practice, which also encompasses large-scale installation and public art. The CMoG commission is a unique fusion of all three categories, pushing the boundaries of what gallery work can be when created in close collaboration with a museum as a site-specific work.