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Tom Patti: Sculptural Art • Architectural Form • Functional Design

Over the past forty years, artist Tom Patti has produced an unparalleled body of work. From the early stages of his career his interest has always been about the relationships between art and architecture; form and function.

Patti’s keen intellect, unwavering commitment to exploration, and dedication to living and creating with advanced, technologically current materials have led him to works with a singular vision and reach. His design philosophy is described in his own words: “The role of the artist is to test thinking against new materials. The challenge for me for the past 30 years has been to investigate the relationship between art and science, and explore humanity’s response to a world of changing social and technological needs. My work with high performance glass addresses issues of security and safety through the applied arts. It represents a commitment to bringing art and science together. It is tangible evidence of something that separates humankind from all other life forms, that magnificent gift that allows us to dream, question, conceptualize and create – the human mind.” With the works currently on view, structure and decoration are one. In the Small Works, densely stratified forms reveal themselves in transparent cross-sections, encapsulating smoke-like veils and patterns of trapped air within the borders of seemingly simple, yet sophisticated forms. Each is a miniature monument with an essence defining beauty beyond matter. In his space defining Wall Works the artist has translated this exquisitely structured art into large-scale installations that alter and define interior space by manipulating image and transparency. Viewers who once gazed into his objects are now literally inside looking out. The conceptual structure and functional design of his Spatial Plateau table series deliberately engages space and blurs the distinctions between pure form and site-specific function.

Patti has received numerous awards, and has been technical consultant on glass design for GE Plastics, Corning, Owens Corning, PPG, Solutia and IBA. His work is published and exhibited throughout the world and is in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Art and Design in New York; the Chicago Art Institute, the National Museum of American Art, the Houston and Boston Museums of Fine Arts, the Carnegie Museum, Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, in Paris.

Exhibit Information
Tom Patti
Continuity of Space