SOLID STATE

James Corporan, Christopher Duffy, Eric Rubinstein, Liesl Schubel, Celeste Wilson, Suzanna Zak

PUTTY'S CORONATION is pleased to announce the opening of SOLID STATE, a group exhibition featuring James Corporan, Christopher Duffy, Eric Rubinstein, Liesl Schubel, Celeste Wilson, and Suzanna Zak at Putty’s Coronation on 1086 Myrtle Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11206.  

SOLID STATE September 22nd - 26th, 2021 

Opening Reception September 23rd, 2021 6-9pm 

The anatomical nature of glass as amorphous stands in as a rich material for artists as an allegory of humanity’s current place in the natural world. 

SOLID STATE presents six artists who embrace the anatomical structure of glass - its intense physicality in being shaped, carved, and formed - as a starting point toward a deeper understanding of the human experience in our ever evolving natural world. As a material, glass resides between two states of matter - even while cooled from its liquid molten state - it never truly becomes fully solid, remaining in a constant state of flux. 

This departure from stasis necessitates adaptability, patience, and tenacity. In today’s world where the truth is ever elusive and fact and fiction are munged, jumbled, and confused, SOLID STATE proposes receptiveness for flux and change. Each artist uses glass to express the complexities of our lived experience, addressing issues ranging from climate change to deep personal relationships, abstract forms to utilitarian functionality, distortion to clarification. 

Corporan is concerned with observation. His lenses are reminiscent of scientific instruments that are not only fundamental to sight, but also to deepen our understanding of nature. The works embody themes of focused examination, the desire to look deeper, the physical limits on seeing, the fundamental fuzziness of the natural world. Zak uses glass to frame, seal, and alter their imagery. The encapsulated C-print is obfuscated but protected. The frame, or the vessel of the photograph, is part of the work. The representation depicted within the image seeps out into the physical materials holding the picture plane in place

Rubinstein and Duffy both work subtractively, grinding through solid glass to create forms. Though the foundation of their objects is started by melting and squeezing colors together while the glass is hot, the dedicated and precise manipulation of the glass is done after; faceting, shaping, and polishing to finalize the forms. Here the work diverges; Rubinstein is concerned with the massive deterioration caused by global climate change, willful pollution of the seas, and the loss of precious reefs. His objects seek to capture the interplay of precious shapes, otherworldly colors, and undulating movement that is actively being stripped from these waters. In contrast, Duffy’s work turns away from the recognizable and into abstraction, playing with line, pattern, and specific color to create new and unique shapes, unconnected to anything identifiable. 

Schubel’s solid glass works are made in memoriam of her beloved Oma. She uses glass to create depictions of tomatoes with their red skins pooling around them and handmade (in both glass and flour) the kipferl, a traditional German baked good. Where Schubel’s glass works are filled with story and emotion, Wilson’s sculpture is evocative, using coconut oil smeared on the physical glass “luscious” to reflect on her experiences as a woman often working in a male-dominated space. 

Viewers are invited to experience the silent malleability inherent in the works, reflecting upon their own dynamism and opening up new perspectives of our natural world and our place within it. 

James Corporan works at the intersection of sculpture, photography, drawing, lighting, and computation. Corporan’s work is informed by his interest in the physical sciences, meditative states, and by his many years working in the glass lighting manufacturing and repair field. His mediums include carved glass, folded paper, photography, found objects, and programmable LED lights. 

Christopher Duffy makes sculptures with glass and mixed media. He received his BFA from the Cleveland Institute of Art and has been awarded fellowships by The Creative Glass Center of America and Starworks. Duffy has exhibited throughout the United States, and Europe, most recently at The Knockdown Center in Queens NY, Glazenhuis in Lommel, Belgium. 

Eric B. Rubinstein received a BA at Queens College and has studied extensively at UrbanGlass, The Corning Museum of Glass, and Pilchuck Glass school. Rubinstein has been a resident at the Corning Museum of Glass in 2005 and was selected as the Niche Award Winner in the Category of Blown Glass Artist in 2004. He has been exhibiting his work across the country since 1999 and has also served as Member of the Executive Committee and chairman of the Studio Committee of the UrbanGlass Board of Directors. 

Celeste Wilson received her BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design and her MFA at Brooklyn College. Her work lies at the intersection of process, material, and deconstruction. Recent exhibitions include Thank You! With Flowers (Queens, NY), The Waste Land at Nicelle Beauchene (NY, NY), and Playground at BRIC (Brooklyn, NY). She has received fellowships at the Creative Glass Center of America at Wheaton Arts (2013) and the Vermont Studio Center (2017), UrbanGlass (2017), Mass MoCA (2019), and Pilchuck Glass School (forthcoming). 

Suzanna Zak (b. 1990, Moscow, Russia) is a New York based artist working across the mediums of sculpture, photography, and installation, with an environmental concern. She received her MFA from Yale School of Art and her BFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art. Recent exhibitions include a solo show, "Flesh of Earth," at Prairie Gallery in Chicago, a group show, “On Colored Shadows,” at Rubber Factory in New York, and a two person show, "Our Companion, Our Other," at Vitrine Gallery in Basel, Switzerland. 

Liesl Schubel received her BFA from Rhode Island School of Design in 2012, and maintains a varied art practice and arts administration career. Liesl is the Education Director at UrbanGlass, has 11 years of glassmaking experience, and is a founding member of the performance collective Flock the Optic. She lives in Trenton, NJ.