French artist's personal projects on debut show in China

Master glassmaker Eric Bonte may be known for his beautiful stained-glass ceilings and windows, but the Frenchman is highlighting a different creation for his first showcase in China.

His exhibition Born from Love, Roused by Freedom: The Glass Soul of Eric Bonte, which is being held at the Liuli China Museum in Shanghai from April 25 through October, features 32 glass sculptures consisting of transparent and pure glass with punctuations of black and gold.

"The exhibition sees Bonte leave behind the colorful domed ceilings of his past and move toward an abstract romanticism by shaking free from expectations and constraints," says Chang Yi, co-founder of Liuli China Museum and curator of the exhibition.

"The grander his domed glass ceilings and the more vivid the use of color, the more his true self would retreat. Perhaps he hoped to cultivate his internal voice, to experience the silence and purity following a maelstrom, or perhaps he saw this as an opportunity to make his true self heard."

According to Bonte, the creation of stained-glass windows and domes demanded precision that was achieved through strictly controlled maneuvers. As such, he wanted to be free and "to be carried away by the material" for these personal works that are on show.

The artist, who set a world record in 1987 for creating the world's largest stained-glass installation at the Basilica of Our Lady of Peace in Yamoussoukro in Cote d'lvoire, has achieved "absolute sensitivity, grace and beauty through wild and even violent maneuvers on very thin layers of the material", says Loretta Yang, a glass artist and a co-founder of the Liuli China Museum.

Bonte's sculptures feature diverse themes and subjects. There are crabs, women and goddesses, and more abstract pieces with names such as Comet Dust, Floating Cloud, and Flight in the Light. These sculptures capture a fleeting moment, a flashback of a memory or a passing movement. Chang calls the French glassmaker a "wind chaser with glass".

"Wind is without bounds, it can't be defined, capricious and with emotions ... through lines, planes, creases, twists and turns, and Bonte captures its free spirit," Chang says.

In traditional Chinese art circles, there is a saying that "there are different shades of black ink", Chang says. "In Bonte's creations, we realize there are infinite variations from translucence to transparency."

A maitre verrier, which means master glassmaker in French, Bonte began his career working with stained and engraved glass. He bought his first studio in 1979 and has since been one of the world's foremost experts in crafting stained-glass windows for places such as the Saint Die des Vosges Cathedral and the Saint Guenole Penmarch Chapel. Bonte was also responsible for the restoration of the stained-glass windows of the church of Saint Severin in Paris. Outside of France, his creations can be found in countries such as Oman, Egypt and Russia.

(China Daily Global 05/24/2019 page15)