Galerie Maria Wettergren is excited to present the solo exhibition the Sun the Moon by Tora Urup, introducing new works in hand-shaped solid glass and Japanese Urushi lacquer by the Danish artist. Rotation is a phenomenon that Tora Urup explores in the physical realization of her glass sculptures that is also relevant to all movement in our universe, determined by gravity. This dynamic rather than static state is not only engaged by the objects themselves, but equally in their viewers, moving around the sculptures to observe their changing expressions. In the words of the artist, “My work is a game of seeing and perceiving. A game that challenges our senses and our perception of space and reality.”

Tora Urup has been experimenting with applying colored Japanese lacquer directly on glass since a research trip to Japan in 2017, where she sought to learn about the Urushi technique and explore the contrast between the two materials. The lacquer is an organic sap, derived from trees, and it is a “living” material with a completely different visual quality than glass. While the solid glass reflect the light, the Japanese lacquer absorbs it.

Since 2001, the Danish glass artist Tora Urup, has shown a particular interest in exploring the visual effects obtained within a series of circular glass sculptures in vibrant colors of thin opaque and thick transparent glass. This body of work is reflecting Urup’s investigation into the specific role played by color and material in our perception of volume and space and reveals the artist’s interest in altering archetypes like the glass bowl into dreamlike objects. By combining subtle colors and making them interplay with each other by varying the glass thickness, Tora Urup enables new spatial perceptions that reverse our conventional understanding of the traditional glass bowl. The interior volumes of these trompe l’oeil sculptures seem to float independently of their exterior, and by the careful juxtaposition and treatment of cut, polished and matt-brushed surfaces, she is creating a genuine illusion of a seemingly infinite and liquid space inside a physically restrained volume.

Tora Urup started her career working with ceramic art in Tokoname, Japan in 1982-83, after which she studied glass and ceramics at the School of Applied Arts of Copenhagen in Denmark. In 1994, she graduated from the Royal College of Art in London and subsequently returned to Denmark to collaborate with Holmegaard Glassworks and Royal Copenhagen porcelain. Since 2001, Tora Urup has been running her own design studio and produced her works in collaboration with highly skilled craftsmen in Europe and Japan. Tora Urup’s artworks are part of important museum collections such as The François Pinault Collection, Paris, France; The Museum of Art and Design, Helsinki, Finland; the MUDAC, Lausanne, Switzerland; The Craft and Design Museum Reykjavik, Iceland; Coburg Glass Museum, Germany; The Art Council, Copenhagen, Denmark; Kunstforeningen af 14 August, Denmark; The Glass Museum, Ebeltoft, Denmark and the Designmuseum Danmark.