When I walked into the Montréal Museum of Fine Arts recently to see the Dale Chihuly exhibit, I had two thoughts right off the bat:
1. Holy crap!
and
2. I will not be able to think of enough superlatives to describe this.
I’m sure it’s not an uncommon reaction to the seriously mind-blowing creations of this world-renowned, Washington-based artist. Some might, however, be more elegant. Whatever.
I’ve seen individual works by Chihuly in several other museums over the years, but MMFA’s show, aptly called “Utterly Breathtaking,” is the first time I’ve had the pleasure of a sense-surround Chihuly experience. That is to say, walking among, and under, his vibrantly colored creations. The museum curated the works beautifully — sparsely and with brilliant lighting that makes the glass sculptures seem to glow from within.
When you climb the stairs to the second-floor exhibition rooms, Chihuly’s anemone-shaped discs float overhead, suspended along the sides of the stairwell. On the landing, you are greeted by a piece called “Turquoise Reeds”: a stand of tall blue tubes of glass seeming to grow like stalagmites from an arrangement of oversized driftwood. Both of these installations give the sense of marine creatures and botanicals, but electrified.
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