Glass Artist Jeff Zimmerman's Dazzling New Monograph

With its emphasis on ritualistic precision and the subtle finesse of materials, glassmaking is an inherently fetishistic practice. And that’s exactly what appeals to Jeff Zimmerman. For the past two decades, he’s been pushing the possibilities of glass, constantly finding new ways to, as he puts it, transcend its “glassiness.” No wonder so many of the sculptural pieces he creates call to mind something other than what they are: eccentric trumpet-shaped objects that at first glance could be ceramics with painted interiors; clusters of silver-mirrored glass orbs that evoke polished metal; crumpled and dented vessels reminiscent of foil or plastic.

Complementing Zimmerman’s experimental work is a steady stream of commissions for commercial spaces and private residences. His showstopping wall installations and exquisite light fixtures (especially the branchlike brass Vine chandeliers beaded with glass globes) have often graced the pages of AD. It’s a fascinating and diverse body of work, all captured in Zimmerman’s first comprehensive monograph, Jeff Zimmerman (Damiani, $60), published in cooperation with his New York gallery, R & Company.

The book features an introduction by fellow glass artist John Drury, as well as an interview between Zimmerman and contemporary art dealer Sean Kelly, in which the artist nicely sums up his open-minded approach: “You can discover a lot about a material when you don’t have clearly defined places that it needs to go, when you’re just playing.”

Jeff Zimmerman (Damiani, $60), to be released on April 30, 2014