Giving Empties a New Purpose

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Giving Empties a New Purpose

Contemporary artist Raymond Persinger gets excited by the concept of taking something that has almost no value, an emptied glass bottle, ready to be discarded, and simply with the addition of his artistic talent, creating something that is almost priceless:  Fine Art!  Persinger is a classically trained sculptor known most for his public art pieces that can be found in many city and university collections.  Persinger is now creating smaller works of fine art using discarded glass from bottles, jars as well as remnants from the stained glass industry collected from local sources.  He cleans and sorts the glass, puts it through a crushing process and melts it to temperatures in excess of 1000º.  When these steps are finished a work of art has been created.

Don’t call his work recycled; Persinger refers to his process as Repurposed.  “Recycled” he explains “suggests that there is a cycle, used bottles are melted and processed into new bottles, used and the cycle begins again.  What I am doing is removing the material from the cycle, I am using it to create an object that will not be discarded, but will find new life bringing inspiration to viewers for generations.”

By using post consumer waste, Persinger saves up to 65% of the carbon footprint that would be created if he used new glass to create his work.  Persinger states that “while this was one of the driving forces in using glass that might otherwise be discarded, I discovered the resulting work has a more exciting and interesting quality than could be achieved using new materials.  It is as if the history of the glass used, imparts its own story into the work.”  Looking at his work you will understand what he means by this.  The resulting work varies, some has a look and feel that is smooth and shiny, while others seem more stone like than what you would expect from glass.  Some of the results are opaque, while other works have a translucent quality.

“I have found that the way I break up and process the glass will effect the outcome, however there is always an element of surprise, which adds a beneficial spontaneity to the work.

While Persinger has been creating public art in bronze for many years, he first started working with glass in 2001 when the city of Laguna Beach commissioned him to created a beach side artwork.  Since then Persinger has mastered glass casting, bringing glass art fully into the world of Fine Art.  “What makes Raymond’s [Persinger] work so unique is that he approaches glass as a sculpture medium, much like a sculptor would work with bronze or some other traditional medium.  This blending of techniques gives Ray’s glasswork a rich quality that is different from other sculpture or glass art,” states Marianne O’Barr who represents Persinger’s work.

Persinger enjoys using glass as his medium.  “Glass is an exciting material, the translucent quality, the color, the way it is effected by light, brings an energy to the work.  These sculptures could be cast in bronze or another medium, but it would not have as much life as it does in glass, especially the repurposed glass that I use.”

The uniqueness of Persinger’s work does not end in the materials that he uses in creating his art.  Persinger combines imagery in a unique way as well.  His works have a strange ancient quality to them, yet something more contemporary as well.  He explains that his influences include sculptors such as Rodin (The Thinker) and St. Gaudens (The Walking Liberty) and ancient Sumerian Tablets, and illuminated manuscripts, which he viewed at the Getty, have also influenced this body of work.  The influence of Graphic novels and tarot cards can be found as well.  The result is a sculptural collage of images that is unique in its style, different than anything else being created in the art world today. 

The work speaks of Persinger’s passion for life; you can definitely see a theme of “the spiritual connection between Man and Nature” in his work. 

Persinger’s glasswork was recently exhibited in a solo exhibit at CSU Fullerton, he is currently working on a commissioned piece for an art museum and additional exhibit venues are currently being arranged.  His studio is located in Southern California where he lives with his wife and children.

Images and more information can be found at:

http://www.ArtGlassNow.org and http://www.RaymondPersinger.com

Contact:  Raymond Persinger (949) 855-9409  Info@RaymondPersinger.com  Marianne O'Barr (925) 272-8578