Winston Wächter Fine Art, New York is proud to present its first solo exhibition by Erich Woll, Nothing Lasts Forever. With all new works in glass and mixed media, Woll continues to explore the ambiguity of meaning in commonplace objects through visually simple yet intellectually complex forms.
Nothing Lasts Forever is an underlying theme for the pieces in the show, from a more literal image of rotten fruit to an abstract piece of three concentric cylinders titled “Claustrophobia,” inspired by the artist’s childhood night terrors that have passed with age. A set of oversize matchsticks is a recurring image in Woll’s work. The title, “The Forest Through the Trees,” alludes to wildfires on the artist’s native West Coast, but the arrangement of seven matchsticks can evoke images of luck and divination or familiar childhood warnings about playing with fire. Among other abstract shapes, familiar objects, and plant life in the show, “Forever” features four segments of bittersweet vine, an invasive species nearly impossible to eradicate. This work suggests that despite the show’s title, some things do last forever. Carefully crafted from glass, the works are visually tight and precise, deliberately familiar yet elusive of any one interpretation. Woll’s images have been reduced to what he calls the “conceptual pith,” or “a seed that can be interpretively grown into multiple identities.” The works are humorous and foreboding, visually pleasing and unsettling, depending on the mind and mood of the viewer.
Erich Woll was born in Boston, Massachusetts and currently works and resides in Seattle, Washington. He studied at the Pilchuck Glass School in Stanwood, Washington and received a BFA with a focus in glass sculpture and metal fabrication at Alfred University in New York. In 1997, Dale Chihuly’s glassblowing team offered Woll a position at Chihuly’s residence in Seattle. Woll’s works have been featured in The Seattle Times, Glass Quarterly Magazine and The News Tribune.
