The “Corning Museum of Glass”, N.Y presents in its current “New Glass Review
31” the 60 most notable acquisitions of public and private collections in the
United States and abroad under the title “Important recent acquisitions”. The
pieces were made between 1946 and today and concern design, installations,
sculptures and architectural glass works. Gerd Sonntag is represented with his
glass sculpture “Blue in Red”.
31” the 60 most notable acquisitions of public and private collections in the
United States and abroad under the title “Important recent acquisitions”. The
pieces were made between 1946 and today and concern design, installations,
sculptures and architectural glass works. Gerd Sonntag is represented with his
glass sculpture “Blue in Red”.
In 1998, the Berlin artist devoted himself to glass art for the first time and developed the so-called layer melting process for this project in cooperation with Schott AG. This process consists in melting together, layer by layer, compatible glass of different colours and thicknesses over various tiers. He changes made between transparent and opaque glass adds foreign elements such as wire and is accented with glass powder and metal oxides: “Working with glass is a kind of resurrection for me. This does not mean, however, that I have entirely abandoned painting. Rather I have rediscovered my abilities with glass objects. It provides me with the opportunity to absolutely unfold my
artistic potential,” said the artist.
artistic potential,” said the artist.
Gerd Sonntag was born in Weimar in 1954 and achieved his international breakthrough in 1989 with expressive painting: According to the New York Times, Gerd Sonntag was the first East German artist to be granted a personal exhibition at an American institution, namely the Brooklyn Museum of Art, New York. The Brooklyn Museum is one of the 10 largest museums in the world.
The renowned art historian Lothar Lang described Gerd Sonntag in one of his books as one of the most talented painters of his generation. Numerous national and international exhibitions as well as the presence in reputable collections e.g. Deutsche Bank Art and the third largest auction house worldwide – Drouot Richelieu in Paris – underline the significance of Gerd Sonntag’s work. For example, some of Sonntag’s glass objects are
on permanent exhibition at the German Embassy in Paris.
The renowned art historian Lothar Lang described Gerd Sonntag in one of his books as one of the most talented painters of his generation. Numerous national and international exhibitions as well as the presence in reputable collections e.g. Deutsche Bank Art and the third largest auction house worldwide – Drouot Richelieu in Paris – underline the significance of Gerd Sonntag’s work. For example, some of Sonntag’s glass objects are
on permanent exhibition at the German Embassy in Paris.
Between 1990 and 1996 Sonntag owned a gallery in Berlin. As the general manager he introduced till then unknown, today, however, famous East German artists for the first time to the general public. Thus as a gallery owner he accompanied many artist, among them was the works of the Neo Rauch which were new at that time and he brought them for the time at trade fairs and exhibitions.
Gerd Sonntag lives and works in Berlin, Prenzlauer Berg.
