Past Exhibition
Projection/Project ~ Projection/Project - new work in stained glass
David Wilde
April 2002
Featuring new stained glass windows by David Wilde, this show addresses the relationship of stained glass to its architectural setting and the ambiance or effect it creates in that environment. As Wilde states, "the intention is to project colour into a space in a manner where the physical response transcends the intellectual reading of the images that constitutes content."
Wilde His contemporary approach to stained glass work is influenced by his many travels around Europe to sites of historical and modern glass windows. His use of historical means and motifs are juxtaposed with his modernist sensibility to form and expression.
The September 11th terrorist attack in New York City happened as Wilde was initiating this project and consequently played a significant, symbolic role in the genesis of his imagery. There are references to the World Trade Center in the fractured and disjointed vertical element in the window Uninvited Alterations, or the picket fence-like forms of Still Standing, reminiscent of the few remaining architectural details left standing, the image that came to epitomize the site of the destruction. The iconic image of the twin towers burning is realistically rendered in the window Towers with its two vertical elements pierced by circular red wounds. And yet there is a degree of abstraction and historical references that allows for quiet contemplation of the formal lines and colours.