Tristano di Robilant: Viewing Room

Tristan Hoare is proud to present a series of works by Tristano di Robilant which featured in an exhibition titled 'The window says to me' (La finestra mi disse) as part of Venice Glass Week in September 2020. The exhibition, curated by Elisa Schaar, took place at  Palazzo Polignac and consisted of a group of seven glass sculptures created in Murano with the collaboration of the maestro glass blower Andrea Zilio.

The title of the exhibition, a line taken from Marcel Proust, refers to a window in Venice that elicits in him strong emotional memories both of the city and of his beloved mother. The transparent glass sculptures - as window prisms - obliquely pay homage to the rich literary and musical history of Palazzo Polignac, and, on a more personal level, evoke memories of a summer spent there as a young boy in 1976.

Some of the artist’s initial encounters with sculpting were with his godfather, Cy Twombly, from whom he ‘learned how to pour plaster into hollows dug out from the sand, revealing small sand coated sculptures.’ Over the years, he started experimenting with various materials, including ceramic, bronze, aluminium and Murano glass.

Di Robilant created the sculptures in collaboration with maestro glass blower Andrea Zilio, born in Venice in 1966. Zilio began his career as a glass blower at the Murano glass factory Anfora and learned his craft under Giulio Ferro and Luigi Buratto. He has taught in the important Pilchuck Glass School of Seattle and has worked closely with the Glass School Abate Zanetti of Murano.