Jonah Takagi at Marta

The works that make up “Brut Vessels” came together after a series of residencies over a five-year period at Cirva (Le Centre International de Recherche sur le Verre et les Arts Plastiques) in Marseille, France. Influenced by the artist’s background in industrial design, and his overall broader inclination toward experimentation, Takagi’s solo exhibition of glass assemblies lives at the intersection of environment, methodology, and fabrication.

Takagi’s process of working with improvised molds — which he builds from found objects local to Cirva — involves a bit of trial and error. While the failures can be frustrating, the moment when things click into place must make it all worthwhile. From the initial improvisation stage, Takagi moved on to a years-long refinement phase, which eventually culminated in the nine works in this exhibition. Each composition represents a different shade from Marseille’s rich palette. The vases conjure the port city’s deep, dark blues, sea glass greens, ancient browns, and the warmest of yellows. These stunning glass works are not to miss.

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Photo: Jonah Takagi, Brut Vessels, Installation View [or Installation Detail], photograph by Erik Benjamins courtesy of Marta.