Water Lilies #52

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Object Name: 
Sculpture
Title: 
Water Lilies #52
Maker(s): 
Place Made: 
United States, NY, Brooklyn
Accession Number: 
92.4.5
Dimensions: 
Overall H: 39 cm, W: 29.2 cm, D: 10.1 cm
Location: 
Not on Display
Date: 
1990
Credit Line: 
Gift of Maureen and Roger Ackerman
Web Description: 
Donald Lipski (b. 1947) is well known for his mixed-media installations and sculptures that question the conventional definitions of art. This artist does not always use glass, but prefers to explore a variety of materials. Much of his recent work examines the properties of organic materials and the operation of ecological systems, which are presented in an industrial, pseudo-scientific context. Lipski favors heavy-duty industrial and scientific glasses that are manufactured by companies such as Corning and Schott. He uses the thick-walled, acid-resistant tanks, spheres, and tubing to enclose and preserve delicate and ephemeral substances, such as plants. Water Lilies #52 functions as a kind of still life that uses actual vegetables instead of paint. In this sculpture, a bunch of carrots floats inside industrial glass tubing, hermetically sealed with a heavy steel clamp. The preservative solution keeps the carrots in suspended animation, with only their color gradually fading over time.

More Info

Department: 
Postwar and Contemporary
Provenance: 
Ackerman, Maureen, Source
1992-05-04
Ackerman, Roger, Source
1992-05-04
Category: 
Studio Glass
Color: 
Colorless, orange, green
colorless
orange
Technique: 
Machine-blown, assembled
Material: 
glass
Copyright: 
© Donald Lipski

Description

Primary Description: 
Colorless glass, colorless solution, natural orange and green of carrots and stems; non-lead glass; machine-blown borosilicate acid-waste lining tubing; metal couplings; carrots, preservative solution; assembled. Solution is likely to be a solution of water, propylene glycol, and various food and color preservatives; blown industrial glass, filled with carrots, assembled with couplings, filled with solution through drilled hole, plugged. Horseshoe shaped colorless tubing, rounded end sections attached to arc with pair of metal couplings (positioned parallel and attached horizontally); each end filled with bunch of vertical carrots, tips pointing down, extend approximately up 1/3 length of sides, remaining arc filled with sweep of intermingled greens from both bunches; horseshoe filled with preservative solution through hole (now plugged) at tip of left end; sculpture hangs symmetrically from extended metal hook (chrome or stainless steel) extending from circular plate attached to wall with two screws; unsigned glass; metal couplings stamped in block letters: "CORNING GLASS WORKS".

Exhibitions (2)

Favorites From the Contemporary Glass Collection
Venue(s)
Corning Museum of Glass
Changing Exhibitions Gallery
Donald Lipski: Glass
Venue(s)
Robert Lehman Gallery 1991-04-20 through 1991-06-01
 

Publications (10)

International Scientific Glassblowers Exposition (2012) illustrated, p. 17; BIB# 130729
Glass with Class: The Corning Museum of Glass (2009-07) illustrated, p. 15, second right; BIB# AI98002
Contemporary Glass Sculptures and Panels: Selections from the Corning Museum of Glass (2008) illustrated, p. 32, 124-125 (fig. 60, plate 38); BIB# 107478
Sculpture, Glass, and American Museums (2005) illustrated, p. 63; BIB# 88835
Glass in Art, History, and Science at The Corning Museum of Glass (2003) illustrated, p. 71, no. 19; BIB# AI64198
The Corning Museum of Glass, A Guide to the Collections (2001) (2001) illustrated, p. 177; BIB# 68214
The Corning Museum of Glass: A Decade of Glass Collecting 1990-1999 (2000) illustrated, p. 100, #176; BIB# 65446
The Past Ten Years of Contemporary Glass (1996) illustrated, p. 607, fig. 6; BIB# AI48527
Recent Important Acquisitions, 35 (1993) illustrated, p. 136, #42; BIB# AI32226
The Corning Museum of Glass Annual Report 1992 (1993) illustrated, p. 20; BIB# AI96377