The art of Christopher Ries is deceptively simple in form, but complex in expression as it engages each viewer into an intimate world of images. Ries’ sculptures clearly convey both his scientific and artistic mind — one part calculates precise incisions which result in splintering internal reflections, another envisions the masterpiece that so captivates the beholder. His work capitalizes on the high clarity, transmission, refractive and reflective properties of the optical glass he uses.
Christopher Ries (1952) received a BFA from the Ohio State University, and an MFA from the University of Wisconsin at Madison. While at Madison, he was the personal assistant to Harvey K. Littleton who is considered by many to be the father of the 20th century Studio Glass Movement. Today, Ries is a highly acclaimed worldwide contemporary glass artist, known for his prodigious art.
Ries began sculpting cold glass in the late 1970′s. Using tools of his own creation, he cuts, grinds, and polishes blocks of pure lead crystal acquired from Schott Glass Technologies of Pennsylvania. His sculptures range in size from a few inches high to life-size — each masterful, each carrying its own grace. Some of his works are the largest, whole, unassembled pieces of sculpted crystal known.
Unlike most glass artists, Ries neither blows nor laminates glass. Rather, he works in the traditional reductive sculptural mode, employing the same techniques used in stone sculpting. Starting with a block of solid optical glass and reducing it to his desired form, his luminous works are characterised by their technical perfection and the seemingly magical, ever changing optical patterns within them.
“Christopher Ries composes light through the medium of glass. While these sculptures suggest a range of sources from prisms to faceted gemstones, these terms are too limiting to describe them. His works quietly move the eye, creating emotional and aesthetic reactions that connect the viewers to his work. Ries effectively blends a technical precision with an artistic vision that challenges the mind, while satisfying the spirit.”