In Simone Crestani’s works, transparency sublimates colour, lightness is flanked by wonder, poetry echoes in the details and fine points. In the artist’s hands, nature flourishes again, showing itself in its utmost magnificence.
Born in 1984 in Marostica, in the province of Vicenza, he started working glass in 2001 first as a student and co-worker in Massimo Lunardon’s glass blowing studio. After an apprenticeship that lasted ten years, he opened his own studio, where he continues to work, dedicated to research and innovation. He is regularly invited as artist in residence and as a teacher by prestigious art academies and glass schools in Europe, Israel and the United States.
An introspective and self-taught artist, over the years he put together all the lessons learned and the experience gained, and finally broke away from the traditional glass of Murano. In fact, he likes using the lume technique to work borosilicate glass, a type of glass that was created in the United States in the early 1900’s for the chemical industry and which was later introduced elsewhere, including in Europe and especially in Germany. Because it is resistant to thermal shock, it is suitable for formal innovation.
Inspired by the never-ending variety of the natural world, the shapes of animals and plants magically come to life, even in their tiniest details, in an celebration of lightness and transparency. Simone Crestani’s technique, together with his personal style and sophisticated poetics, allow him to create an interaction, where glass overcomes its purely material dimension and becomes a fine and studied artistic language, a pure, silent and crystalline conceptual element.
Solo and Collective Exhibitions
2014: “Objects” – OhMyBlue, Venice (Italy) -solo show-
2013: International fine art & antique dealer show, New York, NY (USA) –Fair-
2013: “Shattered: contemporary sculpture in glass”, Frederik Meijer gardens and sculptures park, Grand Rapids, MI (USA) -group exhibition-
2012: “Delicious Fish” , Gallerie Alexandre Biaggi, Paris (France) –solo show-
2012: “8° international prize of sculpture” – museum of contemporary art, Galliate (Italy) – group exhibition-
2012: “Between the squares” – Bernd Goeckler Antiques, New York (USA) –solo show-
2012: The Salon Art+Design, New York (USA) –fair-
2012: “La via della Im-Perfezione” – Florence (Italy) –group exibition-
2012: “Fragilismo” Design Library – Milan (Italy) –group exibition-
2011: 54° Venice Biennale – Padiglione Italia Torino (Itay) –group exibition-
2011: “Peninsula Glass Guild annual show” , Hampton VA (USA) -group exhibition-
2011: “Fragile” stamperia Busatto, Vicenza (Italy) –group exibition-
2010: “Vicenza golden events”, Collective Show, Vicenza (Italy) –group exhibition-
2007: “Symposium”, Tempo degli Artisti, Milan (Italy) –solo show-
2011: “Soffi di Lume” fonderia Bucci, Pesaro (Italy) –solo show-
2011: “Italy-Israel: Mediterranean senses” Hangar Bicocca, Milan; Villa Durazzo, S. Margerita Ligure; Ex Jaffa’s Train Station, Tel-Aviv (Israel) –group exibition-
2011: “ Les créations de Patrice Dangel, Simone Crestani, Mauro Fabbro”, Alexandre Biaggi Gallery, Paris (France) –solo show-
2011: “Delicious Fishes”, Blanchaert Gallery, Milan (Italy) –solo show-
2010: “OPERAè’’ Excellence Hand-crafted Collective Show, Turin (Italy) -group exhibition-
2009: “Rivadossi-Daverio collection”, Basilica di S. Ambrogio, Milan (Italy) –group exibition-
2008: “Glass bonsai”, Galleria Blanchaert, Milan (Italy) –solo show-
2006: Installation “Cascata silente”, Parco del Sojo , Vicenza (Italy)
Distinguishing features
He is internationally recognised as a young luminary in the art of glass.
It has been written of him that his mind “prefers the silent language of his works to many conceptual explanations”.
Simone’s mantra is: “To me, glass represents certainty: I am quite sure that I don’t want to do anything else in my life!”