Glass

Like his work in ceramics, Jun Kaneko’s glass designs explore the dynamic interplay between pattern and space, color and surface, and the complexity of formal composition. They are also a reflection of his persistent interest in a conscious exploration of spatial relationships. Yet the medium of glass has inspired new considerations in Kaneko’s work, most significant of which are translucence and light. As noted by art scholar Dr. Glen Brown in an essay about Jun Kaneko’s work, Kaneko’s method “has always consisted of indulging the inherent strengths of a material, and when the focus turned to glass his concern for light intensified proportionately.” 

Kaneko has produced a wide range of glass designs, ranging from three-hundred-pound kiln formed Slabs to immense, illuminated towers soaring eighty-one feet in the air. Despite the variety of these works, they all retain the geometrical precision characteristic of Kaneko’s artistic production in other media. He explains, “For me, the geometric is more natural for the material and techniques of glass. I could make something very organic with glass — it’s possible, maybe someday I will — but for now, I’m very interested in translucence: how light transmits through the Slab… In glass, it’s possible to see inside the shape.”