Nick Mount - Nick Mount @ 70 - Friday 12 August - Saturday 3 September 2022

Artist's Statement

Nick Mount @ 70

Looking from outside into an open window one never sees as much as when one looks through a closed window. There is nothing more profound, more mysterious, more pregnant, more insidious, more dazzling than a window lit by a candle. What one can see out in the sunlight is always less interesting than what goes on behind a windowpane. In that dark or luminous aperture, life lives, life dreams, life suffers.    –    Charles Baudelaire’s “Les Fenêtres”

Nick Mount @ 70 is a view through a luminous aperture into the life of glass artist, Nick Mount. The exhibition presents a collection of work from the last two decades of Nick’s enduring and on-going commitment to expanding his knowledge of the enigmatic qualities of glass. Tracing the evolution of his Scent Bottles, Plumb Bobs, Beacons and Still Lifes, the exhibition tells a story founded in the historic and cultural traditions of the Venetians, inspired by the collaborative nature of studio glass and cultivated by the local and international glass community.

It is a uniquely Australian story. It is a story of partnership and persistence, a story of industry and innovation. It is a story of repetition and tradition, a story of experimentation and growth. It is a story of generosity and teamwork, a story of family and friendship. It is a story that values handwork and is driven by materials and process, a story of form and finish, texture and tone. It is energetic and expressive, soft and seductive, playful and provocative.

Peta Mount, 2022