Nabo Gaß

The Artist Nabo Gaß is a storyteller – he discloses his tales through paintings made out of glass. He gets his inspiration from experiences and encounters with people, but also from harrowing news and inconsistencies in our sophisticated world. The transparency of glass allows him to tell his stories layer by layer, in which he is unrivalled. He takes milled glass, makes it doughy with glue, and paints his image motifs with a brush or a spatula onto a support glass. The outcome is an ambiguous, multi-faceted overlapping of the various image layers – similar to the interplay of our thoughts and perceptions which, detached from chronology, overlap incessantly.

Nabo Gaß, born in 1954 in Ebingen (Baden-Wuerttemberg, Germany), lives and works in Wiesbaden. Following a vintage training as a stained-glass artist he studied at the Free Art School in Wiesbaden and at the University of the Arts in Berlin in the 1970s. In order to implement his ideas he developed new techniques of glass design: in 1989 the photo-accurate sandblasting technique, in 1994 the painting with stained-glass powder.

In addition to his freelance works, Nabo Gaß deals with nature-related glass design of public and private buildings. In 1999 he was distinguished by the Corning Museum of Glass (NY, USA) for his pillars on the Via Publica in Wiesbaden. More than ten years ago he began to artistically integrate photovoltaics into architecture. For that he obtained the Innovation Award of the glasstec Düsseldorf. His breakthrough came in 2010 when he received the order, by Ernstings Bau & Grund, to put a new façade of solar panels to the new high-rise warehouse at Coesfeld-Lette.

The Foundation has used this as an opportunity to present Nabo Gaß’s broad repertoire and his virtuoso handling of the medium glass in an exhibition. What is more, the Foundation has been familiar with him for quite some time. In 2006 it acquired three works from his work series “Short moments”. In his latest exhibition Nabo Gaß accepts the challenge of entering into a lively dialogue with his work and the Foundation´s collection.

We invite you to meet this exciting intercommunication of artworks and tales!

Photos:

Nabo Gaß, Das Kleid, das sie nie wieder trug, 2010 – Photo Nabo Gass

Nabo Gaß, Short moments, 2006 – Photo Horst Kolberg

Nabo Gaß, Balance 1, 2010 – Photo Nabo Gass

Nabo Gaß, Maria-Maria, 2008 – Photo Frank Widmann