Recycled

This Glass Blows

Is Dale Chihuly’s art any good?

According to a story in the New York Times today, Seattle glass artist Dale Chihuly is suing two former employees for copyright infringement. In 1999, Eric Scigliano argued that Chihuly’s success was simply a manifestation of the Washington region’s sudden prosperity: “His is the perfect art for boosters, wannabes, new money, and self-conscious arrivistes. In other words, perfect for the precociously wealthy, culturally callow New Northwest. Glass has the museum seal of approval, but it’s supremely (and as practiced by Chihuly) almost purely decorative.”