La Revue de la Céramique et du Verre recently published an article about my work and solo exhibition at Galerie Artes in Pont-Sainte-Marie. The piece explores my journey from journalism to glass casting and how light, transparency, and optical illusions define my artistic practice.
Below is a full transcript of the article:
Optical Illusions
She sculpts light. Based in Barcelona, where she has been developing her practice since 2011, Anna Alsina Bardagi (born in 1977) readily explains it: “My art is driven by the desire to capture light, transparency, and the optical illusions that only glass can create.”
She works with a type of optical glass that is ecological, without lead or arsenic, which she pours into a mold and then into a kiln at 850°C for about two weeks, before following a fourteen-step protocol to ensure uniform cooling. Perfectly transparent, her sculpted forms are simple: cubes, half-moons, with the smoothest possible walls, sometimes slightly in relief but most often perfectly polished. This is one of the most important and most time-consuming stages of each creation, according to the artist.
It is above all inside the pieces that everything happens, where dreamlike landscapes are revealed, bubbles and hypnotic effects reminiscent of jellyfish. These appear during the molding process, “shaped by the arrangement of elements and the surface treatments applied before firing.”
Originally from Madrid, the glass artist had a first career: she initially worked in journalism and scientific communication, before a turning point during a summer internship in a glass workshop in Barcelona in the early 2010s. She then laid the foundations of glass molding and quickly decided to pursue her training as a self-taught artist.
For Jean-François Lemaire (see p. 51), who welcomes her to his Artes gallery: “Each sculpture is a small universe where light interacts with optical glass to reveal hidden depths and internal structures. As viewers move around the works, shifting patterns, reflections, and subtle optical illusions transform their perception of space. Each piece invites a new way of looking, making light both the subject and the medium, and offering an immersive experience.”
Works Illustrated
1. Mitosis, 2024 – 26 × 14 × 14 cm
2. Undula, 2024 – 19.5 × 32 × 12 cm
From November 13 to December 20
Galerie Artes, 3 rue Pasteur, Pont-Sainte-Marie (10)
www.galerie-artes.com
Maily Céleux-Lanval
La Revue de la Céramique et du Verre, p. 78
