Dull, drooping and shriveled thistles and
turgid and exuberant rosehip buds, eager to
display all their fragrant and luxuriant freshness;
floppy and burnished tulips and flourishing
peonies; explosive oranges and faded greens;
decadence and radiance, autumn and summer,
shadow and light, life and death. In Lilla
Tabasso’s hyper-realistic floral compositions, the
contradictions, imperfections and fears of the
human being are embodied in the most delicate
and ephemeral creations on earth, taking shape
in glass, symbol of fragility. Alongside the spring
flowers in their riot of colors, vigor and luster, the
Vanitas flourish, enhancing the sense of impurity
and weakness of nature. Even in the crumpled leaf,
in the twisted branch, in the flower that bends the
corolla and abandons itself to its demise, there
is poetry, love, art. Raised in a family of antique
dealers and surrounded by classic stylistic
artefacts which inevitably influenced her, Lilla
Tabasso decided to devote herself to glass art,
teaching herself the ancient and noble art of the
“Lume” or “lamp-working”. The hot flame melts
the Murano glass rods, which are then mixed in
order to obtain the perfect color to give them life.
In the course of her research, she came across
the creations of Leopold and Rudolf Blaschka,
famous 19th century glassmakers, and was struck
by the extraordinary execution of their work.The exquisite workmanship with its incredible
realism became a goal to which to aspire, though
not the ultimate objective.
The scientific rigor of the Blaschkas – who were
commissioned to faithfully reproduce examples
of terrestrial and marine flora and fauna, on
behalf of one of the most prestigious American
universities - is absent in her work. Tabasso
is not interested in “photographing” nature as
it appears. She does not feel the obligation to
reproduce an exact likeness - her flowers are
not intended for academic study. The focus is in
the way in which they burst with life and vigor at
first bloom until eventually the passage of time
inevitably takes its toll. What Mother Nature puts
before her eyes is reinterpreted according to the
mood and emotions of the moment, as if it were
the flower itself that hints at a certain frame
of mind. In her work there is always life, even
when it’s suffering, while the contrasts inherent
in human nature take shape in the unusual
combinations of the compositions; transparent
and deliberately neutral vases that enhance the
richness of the cut flowers, cold concrete blocks
from which they emerge, stubborn and resilient
tufts of anemones, or clods of earth, primordial
and maternal...