John Hoyland

In 1994 Hoyland was commissioned by art dealer Giovanni Tieuli to make a series of glass sculptures with Venetian master glass-blower Mario Badioli in Murano, Venice. He went on to make a further series of works with Tieuli and Badioli in 1998.

Tieuli recalls how they worked:

‘There was a lot of trial and error. We made two or three before we got where we wanted. (We destroyed the errors.) John loved the fact that the process involved a  percentage of risk – the unknown result was all part of the excitement. When an artist is totally in control he knows there won’t be anything unexpected. That wasn’t the case here. I remember when he saw the first piece we made after the trial ones, the piece that finally met our expectations and standard, how our adrenaline was really pumping. John was full of enthusiasm. It was, “Oh wow!” And they really are wild pieces – or “wildly fanciful”, as Mel Gooding calls them [Thames & Hudson, 2006]. Even for the Murano glass-blowers it was something new, something exciting for them to be involved with. It was a lovely experience.’

From an interview with Giovanni Tieuli, 2013

John with master glass-blower Mario Badioli

John with Giovanni Tieuli in Murano