Page 67 - The Documenta issue of World of Art magazine (2002)

Brief historical and technical

digression on Livio Seguso’s work

In the early ‘70s, Seguso was inexorably attracted to the permeable qualities of light, or transparency,
inherent in glass. This awareness led to his first “submerged” works, that is important masses of crystal
within which the artist inserted plastic forms that symbolically and evocatively recalled the themes
of love and maternity. Despite the fact that his research led him to an ever more pronounced formal
synthesis, Seguso nonetheless continued to privilege the theme of birth as universal symbol for the
cause and font of life.

Towards the end of the ‘70s, the evolution of his plastic investigations led him to more and more
essential works. The forms within the “submerged” works gradually disappeared, as did the use of color
and various details. What remained, however, was a certain symbolism linked to the mystery of birth,
which was represented by one or several air bubbles that appear within the masses of glass.

The works from 1980 on express an opening out onto a defined conceptualism, which confirmed his
new-found autonomy in reference to the noble Murano glass tradition.
In these works, the transparent crystal forms are superimposed onto one another, giving rise to a
composition that follows a well-defined structural logic that then fuses into a central nucleus qua origin
and state of glass. The end result is a sequence of extraordinarily and suggestively emotional lights.
All of these works are entirely hand-made using hot glass and a series of traditional glass techniques.
Their exterior is constituted by masses of blown glass that develop into elliptical or circular forms,
fused by a heavy internal mass in which there are either one or several paired air bubbles signifying the
coming-into-being of life.
In this way, in the progression of his stylistic and formal research, Seguso gradually assumes greater
awareness of the value of heat in reference to form, thus nurturing the conviction that his creativity and
feelings must be in perfect symbiotic relationship with the material of glass.
Seguso is the artist who has, possibly more than any other, understood that when a glass sculpture is
designed or projected, it has to be “thought of’ as glass; that is, it has to be conceived considering how
glass behaves when it begins in a specific point, when it originates from a specific line. This is why his
forms are often circular or elliptical; they recall the movement of the blowing-rod when it holds the
molten mass of fluid glass and begins to work it, subjecting it constantly to the heat of the furnace.
These works are clear examples of a compositional form where masses are superimposed according
to a process of cellular accretion that imposes absolute rigor on form. Progressively, in fact, the bubble
inside the mass of glass unites the elliptical discs and repeats this form ever more exactly, even though
the entire sculpture has been modeled by the artist himself
Seguso’s stainless steel supports date from the same period. They are his first attempts at bringing
together two materials that are apparently so different, but that, considering their elegant structures,
are in fact ideal juxtapositions. In actual fact, what Seguso is really interested in is finding the
compositional rigour capable of expressing an extreme purity while at the same time exalting the values
of matter and idea in such a way that the work acquires the allusive meaning of an opening out towards
space.

The structural situation changes once more towards the late ‘80s. Circles and elliptical forms give way
to less rigorous compositions, even though they maintain a clarity of volume and a central nucleus
from which the form seems to develop in various directions and on which attention is focused. And it
is precisely the problem of form that seems to command Seguso’s attention in this period. The artist
intervenes on form by sectioning it into several parts and then recomposing it by reversing the original
order. This provokes lags and phase shifts in the levels and, at the same time, leads to a new and ideal
formal unity. This process of desegregation and aggregation can, in fact, be interpreted as the end of an
existence or the birth of a new life.
Technically, these works are all hand-made using molten glass. The works are subsequently cut using
diamonded discs and abrasive emery wheel and then perfectly polished using buffing cloth and cerium
oxide. The recomposed forms are then fixed onto stainless steel supports using a powerful, tried, and
proven abrading.
In the ‘90s, Seguso’s work is further enriched with the addition of new elements. The artist discovers
marble and granite, and their possible associations with glass. Now the crystal seems to be contained,
born and hewn from envelopes of living stone, pink and white marble, gray and black granite. These are
sculptures that talk to us of yin and yang and the reconciliation of opposites - they communicate, once
more, a lyrical yet visceral love for life.

Andrea Pagnes WORLD of ART 65