IF DAVID READE were made of glass, he'd have bead eyes, chandelier hair and a heart filled with African sky crystals. The 43-year-old South African glass artist loves his continent. He says Africa is the joy and inspiration reflected in his translucent glass artwork that's exhibited in galleries from New York to Johannesburg. It will be on display for the first time in Hong Kong this week, at Bark Modern Art gallery and Gaffer Studio Glass.
'I've never felt more at home anywhere in the world than I do here,' says Reade, sitting in his studio in Worcester, about two hours from Cape Town. 'Africa has something special.'
It's this special ingredient that characterises Reade's glass art. From vases with terracotta-shade swirls to two-metre wall installations and water fountains, his work is a marriage of classical and kaleidoscopic, reflecting a personal voyage as varied as his art. His unusual use of colour suggests a talent born as much from studied apprenticeship as from a passionate embrace of the African aesthetic.
'This is something that has developed in me since I've been here,' he says. 'I use colour in unusual ways and patterns, which makes a piece difficult to control.'
Born on England's Isle of Wight, Reade learned his glass-blowing skills in a British production studio. He also spent a year in Scandinavia, visiting several Swedish glass masters whose techniques helped forge his own style, before he settled down in the small town of Worcester, where he now lives with his wife and young daughter, surrounded by towering mountains. 'It's like that with glass,' he says. 'If you see something that you like, you incorporate it into your own work'.
From relatively humble beginnings, Reade was soon experimenting, trying out new forms and colours and constantly refining his attention to detail, partly inspired by his wife's painting techniques. 'I used to love making classical forms, but I really struggle with those these days,' Reade says. 'These days, I look at detail more, and I take three or four times longer. Now, I find it quite soul destroying to make pieces that I don't feel passionate about.'
As his crafts became more artistic, his activities multiplied. Reade designed and installed an African-motif wall for an airport lounge. He's also busy with two architectural projects involving the complete interior design of two clients' homes.
