Automobile Vase "Repair" is Chrysler Museum's "Object of the Week"

June 26, 2020

NORFOLK, VA — Carolyn and Richard Barry Curator of Glass Carolyn Swan Needell has chosen Repair by Dan Dailey to feature as the Chrysler Museum’s “Object of the Week” for June 24, 2020. Part of the museum's permanent collection, Repair is one of twenty vases from Dailey's Automobile Vase series that he produced in 1983.

“A viewer must move all the way around the vase to see the complete image and understand the story and personas the artist conveys. The graphic nature of Dailey’s work is sometimes compared to that of a comic strip, but there is no real beginning or end to the scene that unfolds around the vase. ”

— Carolyn Swan Needell

Repair, 1983 Blown, sand-blasted, acid-polished glass. 9 × 6 in. — *Repair*, 1983
Blown, sand-blasted, acid-polished glass. 9 × 6 in.

An exhibition of Dailey’s figurative work titled "Dan Dailey: Character Sketch" opened at the museum February 21. The show features 33 works that span four decades of the artist’s career.

Source: https://chrysler.org/object-of-the-week-gl...

"Dan Dailey: Character Sketch" Exhibition Opens at the Chrysler Museum of Art

February 25, 2020

NORFOLK, VA — "Dan Dailey: Character Sketch," an exhibition of Dailey’s figurative work opened Friday, February 21. The work will be on view at The Chrysler Museum of Art until November 29. The Chrysler-curated show features 33 works that span four decades of the artist’s career. Carolyn and Richard Barry Curator of Glass Carolyn Swan Needell has written a catalog to accompany the exhibition. Subjective and narrative in nature, Dailey’s work is “inspired by the human character and based upon his direct observation of the world,” reads the exhibition announcement. The artist "articulates his perceptions and thoughts about humanity through the medium of glass, pushing the material to new frontiers in order to tell stories about human nature," the announcement continues. The exhibition includes blown and hot-worked glass vases and sculpture, glass cane murals, wall reliefs made from Vitrolite (industrial colored glass), as well as his original drawings.

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Kaitlin McKeown / The Virginian-Pilot

“Dan’s work really can’t be mistaken for the work of any other artist. The message and execution of his work is simply unique. This holds true for his over 40-year career: works made in the 1980s connect strikingly well to work made last year in 2019, in both aesthetics and meaning.”

— Carolyn Swan Needell

Since 1971, Dailey has participated in over 300 group, juried, and invitational exhibitions, and has had numerous one-person museum and gallery exhibits including a major retrospective at the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian Institution, and a recent installation at the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg. When asked if his work has been represented before in the way that the Chrysler Museum is recognizing and exhibiting his works, Dailey says, “Carolyn Needell has a thesis that she has put forth as far as my work is concerned. She wanted to focus on that and is not showing the illuminated works. She made deliberate selections and has rationale for each. Her take on it is different and my work has not been exhibited in this way before.”

Dailey will return to the Chrysler Museum May 6 – 9 for a glassblowing workshop with Perry Glass Studio Manager Robin Rogers and artist Richard Royal. Carolyn Needell will give a gallery talk about the exhibition April 4.

UPDATE: Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, events associated with “Dan Dailey: Character Sketch” will be postponed until further notice. The exhibition will remain installed until November 29.

Source: https://urbanglass.org/glass/detail/dan-da...

MIT Celebrates the 50th anniversary of its Center for Advanced Visual Studies

March 12, 2018

CAMBRIDGE, MA — To mark the 50th anniversary of the MIT Center for Advanced Visual Studies (CAVS), the MIT Museum opened on February 15th an exhibition presenting a historical overview through selected works by CAVS research fellows, students and professors. Installations and videos at the Compton Gallery along the main corridor of MIT are the works of more than 30 past and current research fellows.

On view are time-specific works by Research Fellows and Directors, Gyorgy Kepes, Otto Piene and Dan Dailey, celebrating 50 years after the Center’s Opening by Kepes in 1967/68. In addition, a photo exhibit can be seen as of March 21st at the museum’s Kurtz Gallery: Kepes Photographs, MIT Years 1946-1985.

Dan Dailey, Light Bulb Prototype, 1976 sketches – 2018 modified prototypes — Dan Dailey, *Light Bulb Prototype*, 1976 sketches – 2018 modified prototypes

Glass has always been Dailey’s medium, using industrial processes to realize his vision. While collaborating with the Research Lab for Electronics at MIT, he focused on developing technical knowledge and recently prototypes for his thick light bulb sculptures. He defines them as ‘glowing elements inside a curved lens-like mass.’

CAVS was a bold experiment connecting artists with forefronts of science and engineering. New artistic media and methods, as well as scales of expression for expanding audiences were pioneered at CAVS through the art-driven, interdisciplinary collaborations that became its hallmark.

The Museum’s exhibition includes art installations at multiple sites within the Museum and in its Compton Gallery. Holograms, light art, and inflatable sculptures reflect the wide range of CAVS artistic explorations and achievements that changed the social standards of art. The exhibition will remain open throughout 2018.

Source: https://www.berkshirefinearts.com/03-09-20...

Orbit 1987. Cast glass, paint on board, steel. 9 x 16 feet — ***Orbit***
1987. Cast glass, paint on board, steel. 9 x 16 feet

Orbit, Originally in Rockefeller Center’s Rainbow Room, Finds New Home at Toledo Museum of Art

April 28, 2017

TOLEDO, OH — Formerly in Rockefeller Center’s Rainbow Room in New York, Orbit now resides in its new home outside the Little Theater at the Toledo Museum of Art. Donated by New York real estate firm Tishman Speyer, the 15 by 8-foot mural is a glowing work of glass with a changing lighting scheme that radiates shades of amber, rose, violet and blue. The muted, ethereal feeling the mural evokes contrasts with the images from ancient mythology, space exploration and science fiction that are cast into the glass.

Dan Dailey recreates the original backdrop that had deteriorated over 3 decades in the Rainbow Room

“It’s a pretty significant piece for me,” Dailey said. “When I think about my influences, many are revealed here. This is about a kind of wide-ranging view of things that are significant in the history of art and in the history of design, and the iconography of these things.

“In retrospect, as big as it is, I realize it was still a really personal object.”

Orbit, behind the Rainbow Room bandstand in Manhattan’s Rockefeller Center, 1987 — ***Orbit***, behind the Rainbow Room bandstand in Manhattan’s Rockefeller Center, 1987

Commissioned in 1986 for the Rainbow Room nightclub, Orbit’s first inspiration was the space’s revolving dance floor and iconic history. In 2014, almost 30 years later, the glass mural was removed from its location behind the bandstand when the Rainbow Room’s owners had it dismantled as part of a major overhaul of the club’s interior. It was saved and donated to its new home in Toledo, Ohio, in 2015.

“Orbit’s scale is one reason it’s quite an impressive glass sculpture,” said Halona Norton-Westbrook, the museum’s director of collections. “But it’s also special because of the level of detail that went into the work, so that it has visual impact both from a distance, as it was installed in New York, as well as close-up. We’re thrilled to acquire this substantial work in glass for TMA’s collection.”

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The installation of Orbit is the Museum’s third collaboration with Dailey; in 2007, he co-authored the children’s book “Glassigator,” and in 2008, he was invited to participate in the Guest Artist Pavilion Project at the Museum’s Glass Pavilion.

Source: https://www.toledomuseum.org/about/news/or...

Voyage2015. Cast glass, plate glass, aluminum, stainless steel, LED lights. 45 inch diameter face. — ***Voyage***
2015. Cast glass, plate glass, aluminum, stainless steel, LED lights. 45 inch diameter face.

Voyage — A New Sculpture at 555 Fifth Avenue in New York

January 15, 2016

NEW YORK, NY — ATCO Properties & Management has completed the installation of a custom cast glass sculpture designed by world-renowned visual artist Dan Dailey at its signature Midtown property, 555 Fifth Avenue. The work, titled Voyage, is now on display in the portico entrance on the sidewalk.

The remarkable sculpture is illuminated 24 hours a day. It functions as a clock, using computer controlled LED lights to indicate passing hours and minutes. According to Dailey, the sculpture is not intended to be immediately recognizable as a clock. Its complex form and deep blue center invite contemplation.

H. Dale Hemmerdinger, chairman of ATCO, says that the installation’s eye-catching design will enliven the property’s entrance and attract new visitors to the building. “We’re excited to be enhancing our public space with this one-of-a-kind handmade sculpture for our tenants and the community,” he said. “We are thrilled with Dan Dailey’s original and sophisticated design, which we believe will become an attraction for both our tenants and visitors walking along Fifth Avenue."

In total, the sculpture stands nine feet tall and contains 38 glass parts and 302 metal parts. The entire project took two years to complete. The work is Dailey’s 25th installation in Manhattan.

Dailey says the void of time is central to the sculpture. “It is an ethereal concept, yet it is a functional work,” he said. “The technical look and the complexity of the piece represent a new way of realizing an idea based on techniques and design concepts that have driven my art for many years.” He added, “There are numerous drawings in my sketchbooks over the past 20 years that show concepts similar to the clock. It just took the right client to trust me to follow this particular path of thought.”