Brad Abrams

“The inescapable truth is that art is intertwined with life. To first become an artist you must open your soul, expose your feelings for the world to see.” Some artists put those feelings onto canvas, while Abrams pours his world into glass. As viewed in his sculpture, life involves escape and the pursuit of bliss. Abrams pushes the bounds of human comfort with pleasure. In his work, he comes uncomfortably close to this moral conundrum.

Born in Allentown, Pennsylvania in 1965, Abrams received his formal education at the California College of the Arts, studying under Marvin Lipofsky. He was further influenced under the tutelage of the late American ceramicist, Viola Frey (1933-2004). Her guidance is seen in Brad’s work to this day.

The various elements in Abrams' latest work cause the pieces to be read slowly as in the language of hieroglyphs. In the case of the Pathetiglyphs, these are ironic juxtapositions that involve the abstraction of toys. The images in Abrams' work range from poking fun at society's sacred cows to pondering the conflicts of morality to dealing with the sometimes mundane nature of human existence.

With the addition of color, glass normally transparent to visible light becomes a wonderful media for creating vibrant images. Place any of the Abrams' pieces near natural light and the art transforms throughout the day. The placement of Abrams' work, whether in an office, a home, a gallery, or a museum collection, and the experience of viewing the art at different times of the day, combine to make these works not only the artist's but the owner's as well.

All of Brad’s work is made from 100% recycled glass, obtained from factories that would otherwise simply thrown away. Brad then creates his form in the kiln and ladels the molten glass into the mold where it goes through the annealing process which can take up to a week or more, depending on the size and thickness of the form. This process would be considered ‘cast glass’ since it is cast into a mold.