“The Kedah River in Malaysia started my early fascination with water. Born and raised by it, I played in it, saw its moods and movements and the effects it leaves behind. When I started to work with glass the visual impressions that water left me kept recurring in my glass work. This is by no coincidence because glass shares similar light bending properties with water. In much of my work I explore past experiences with water and create pieces based on them. The work is complex layers of clear, opaque and dichroic glass fired in a kiln to create abstract images that give impressions of water, plants, reflections. The resultant effect is like the surface of water, like looking into water, like being underwater- wet, fluid and graceful. Much of my work is mounted on etched and patinated metals, integrating the disparate materials by extending the design lines initiated within the glass, creating larger format "paintings" for both commercial and residential application. Other work is dynamic colors fired onto large pieces of clear and textured glass and floated on the wall whereby the shadows created with lighting become part of the conceptual design.” Syed Ahmad
The Process
“I approach my work by first identifying the audience and the space in which the work will be viewed. This determines the size, presentation and the theme of the piece. I then gather all the material I need. My primary material is glass sheets in various colors as large as 24"x48" with average thickness of 1/8". I assume the roll of a collage artist working with materials at hand, cutting, trimming and shaping glass sheets, laying, arranging and overlapping transparent, opaque and translucent glass.My method is improvisational. The glass I have at hand and the image in my mind will do their dance back and forth. The medium imposes its will as much as the artist does. Immersed in paradox, I allow for intentional accidents and planned surprises. While the creative work is done at room temperature, the final outcome is not apparent until after the technical process of kiln-firing. The improvised collage of glass is then placed in a kiln and fired to around 1400 degrees Fahrenheit. At this temperature, the pieces of glass begin to flow and fuse blending shapes and colors. The colors I use are from a specially coated dichroic glass, where the colors are not pigment but interference colors. This special this-film coating on glass was first developed by the aerospace industries as an optical filtering devise having the property of splitting white light into 2 opposing spectrums of colors. One is reflected and the other is passed through. It also selectively reinforces certain wavelengths of light while interfering with other wavelengths, thus the term "interference". The reinforced wavelengths are perceived by the human eye as being highly saturated in color. The dichroic's interesting properties allow me to stack the glass in many layers to achieve significant visual depth in an essentially two dimensional piece.” Syed Ahmad
