Virtuoso Vertigo
A baby riding on a silver rocket, Delicate goblet stems finished with a disposable papercup, Toilet cleaner bottles made with a painstakingly intricate web of Reticello glass, Banana skins that dance and pirouette- there is a visual surplus and simmering dark humor in the work of Ned Cantrell.
With reference to the craftsmanship of the classical age, and in particular the Italian Renaissance, traditional blown-glass is on a crashcourse with contemporary values.
An interest in overseen everyday objects is found in much of Ned Cantrell’s production, which momentarily can lead one’s thoughts to Pop art. However it is Andy Warhol’s reproductions of electric chairs and car crashes rather than his glistening versions of soup cans and cola bottles that are relevant here. When the artist works with everyday objects there always occurs something unpredictable and often threatening.
Ned Cantrell’s fascination of this collision between high and low culture is not without humour. The artist cannot hide his own diabolical pleasure over puncturing the naive innocence. Subsequently complimenting the thought provoking with the grotesquely funny.
