Christopher Ries has a new audience for his latest and ethereal glass sculpture. The work christened "Opus" is being featured in the center of Columbus Airport in Columbus, Ohio. "Opus", is the worlds largest monolithic carved sculpture weighing 1476 pounds and measuring 44 1/2 inches in diameter and 12 1/2 inches in thickness. Crafted using the worlds highest quality lead crystal, "Opus" was carved from a 3000 pound block of glass that took 4 months to cool. It is a reverie of kaleidoscopic light and form, the piece is valued at $400,000.
Installation of Opus ~
click on images for larger view
"We were excited to learn that Christopher Ries was interested in displaying his work at the airport," said David Whittaker, Vice President of Business Development and Communications for the Columbus Regional Airport Authority. " The timing of this Ries exhibit couldn't be better with the Lino Tagliapietra display at the Columbus Museum of Art and the Dale Chihuly exhibit at the Franklin Park Conservatory. To have works from all three of these prominent glass artists concurrently on display in Columbus is truly a once-in-a lifetime opportunity."**
Christopher, a native of Columbus, is honored to showcase his work in a milieu that will allow 7 million visitors a year the occasion to apperceive the "lightness of being" so unique to his creations. " Ries founded the glass program at The Ohio State University, where he received a BFA in glass and ceramics. Though initially he blew glass, by the late 1970's, Ries was sculpting glass cold by cutting, grinding and polishing it in his home studio. Ries acquires blocks of pure, clear lead crystal cast from Pennsylvania's Schott Glass
Technologies, where he currently serves as artist-in-residence."**
"Some of Ries' works are the largest, whole, unassembled pieces of sculpted crystal known to exist. The art is deceptively simple in form but complex in expression as it engages each viewer in an ever changing intimate world of images. More than 1,000 people attended the opening of Ries' solo exhibition at the Columbus Museum of Art in 2001. A previous show at the Cincinnati Museum of Art broke that venue's attendance record."**
"Christopher Ries brings magic to optical crystal through his unique and brilliant understanding of optics," explained Tom Hawk, who is owner of Hawk Galleries and worked with the Columbus Museum of Art to coordinate Ries' display at Port Columbus. "Based solely on how he sculpts the exterior form of the crystal, Ries creates ever-changing internal illusions. He predicts how his elegant forms translate into voluminous abstract and floral patterns inside the piece, as he is unable to see into the sculpture until its final polishing."**
The exhibit will continue through the end of 2004.
**Reprinted in part with the permission of the Port Columbus International Airport Authority.
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