José Chardiet
Cuban born American artist José Chardiet devotes his time to transforming the glass medium into a soulful wonder world of surreal and animated sculpture. His pieces reflect both his Latin heritage and his ability to bring to life his imagination.
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José Chardiet
José Chardiet has had the kind of picture-book career that is far more common in the USA than in Europe. He was born in Havana, Cuba, in 1956, but his parents immigrated to the US when he was four, settling in New Haven, Connecticut. He was awarded a BA by the Southern Connecticut State University in 1980 and an MFA by Kent State University three years later. The recipient of several prizes and grants, he became Professor of Glass and Sculpture at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, in 1991, but also taught at the Pilchuck Glass School in Stanwood, near Seattle, and at other specialist institutions. In 2000 he left his post in Urbana-Champaign in order to devote himself entirely to his work, setting up a studio in Providence, Rhode Island. The long list of Chardiet's solo and group exhibitions at major galleries in the US and abroad since the 1980s reflects his status as a highly sought-after artist.
Chardiet does not belong to any particular school of American studio glass. His work cannot be said to derive directly from Harvey Littleton's; neither does it relate closely to that of Dale Chihuly and Lino Tagliapietra, the two intermediaries between glass in Europe and the New World. He uses the blowing and casting processes in very personal ways to address such subjects as Spanish still-life painting, woodwind instruments and African art. His aim, he says, is 'to create sculptures imbued with a spiritual and inner life. Using the natural transparency and translucency of the material allows the viewer... to get to the core or soul of sculpture.' That by no means excludes an element of humor.
José Chardiet's work has been exhibited extensively throughout North America and is featured in prominent collections including Corning Museum of Glass in Corning, New York; mudac, Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Lausanne, Switzerland; Museum of Arts & Design in New York, New York; Museum of American Glass in Millville, New Jersey and Smithsonian American Art Museum and the Renwick Gallery in Washington, D.C.
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