FUSE Glass Artist Residency

Sublime Scales
Marcel Hoogstad Hay is interested in
the ways people perceive the world; our
perceptions of space, time and matter,
and how these preconceived notions
relate to the way things appear when
viewed at different scales. He is fascinated
by the way spacetime is influenced by the
physical forces in the universe and, using
the material and optical qualities of
glass, he explores this idea through the
distortion of image, pattern and form.
For this exhibition Sublime Scales,
Hoogstad Hay has created a body of work
that addresses how we situate ourselves
in the world as we move through it.
Working with traditional Venetian glass
cane techniques he creates complex,
gestural patterns. These lines of cane
allude to paths traversed and how
physical forces disrupt and distort these
paths. They reference the nature of things
when viewed at a quantum scale, but also
topography and how we might picture
ourselves moving across the Earth’s
surface. It is in the nature of these
often unseen scales, the unfathomability
of the astronomical and the complexity
of the quantum, that Hoogstad Hay finds
a sense of awe. Through these works he
explores perceptual elements, breaking
down our established understanding of
the physical world. The reflective surfaces
and absorbing interiors of these objects
invite the viewer to engage with the work,
and to contemplate the self and our place
in the universe.
Wine Dark Sea II, 2023
blown and mirrored glass, acrylic paint. Photo: Pippy Mount
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