Lucio Bubacco is an italian master artisan specialized in glass sculpture and lampworking art. He was born on the famous island of Murano in 1957. As a boy growing up on this island renowned for its glasswork, Lucio would play with glass, making small animals, beads and other typical lampworked objects. At the prodigious age of 15 he became a qualified glassworker and started to sell his lampwork creations.
“Lago dei Cigni” is a collection of glass sculptures inspired in Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s “Swan Lake”.Siegfried and Odette together with her maidens, turned into swans by the evil Von Rothbart, are spinning in an ecstatic dance on what appears to be the surface of the lake formed by the tears of Odette’s parents. ©Lucio Bubacco
Lucio’s glassworks are often influenced by Greek mythology and the Commedia dell’Arte, especially for their themes of metamorphosis and transformation. His subject matter is often erotic; his exquisitely sculpted detailed figures are full of energy and life. ©Lucio Bubacco
The concepts of paradise/sacred and hell/damned are deeply explored in Lucio’s works of art. ©Lucio Bubacco
In 1980, Bubacco started to study anatomical drawing with Venetian artist Alessandro Rossi, resulting in a change in orientation in his work. From then on figures became vital to his work. He started to push the limits of his craft, challenging established preconceptions. His exclusive freestanding lampworked creations are generated using soft flexible Murano glass rods. Lucio’s works exceed established lampworking norms and traditions. They combine a rich glassworking heritage with the anatomical perfection of Greek and Roman sculptures, whilst integrating Gothic designs found in Venice.
The anatomical perfection and the attention to detail in Bubacco’s glass sculptures are breathtaking. ©Lucio Bubacco
Each small detail in Bubacco’s glass sculptures tells its own story. They almost seem alive. ©Lucio Bubacco
The murano glass Lucio operates to bring life to his glass sculptures is also called “soft glass” because of its malleability, in part due to its elevated soda content. This makes it ideal for lampwork. The sculptures this master artisan creates are built piece-by-piece, melting glass rods and fusing each piece and detail one by one.
The rhythm in gesture is as important in sculpture as rhythm in music. If it is not felt instinctively, neither composer nor sculptor can hope to succeed. In Lucio’s handmade glassworks’ movement is not confined to the bodies’ torso, arms and legs. ©Lucio Bubacco
“La Barca di Dante” is a kind of artist’s statement in which personal fantasies and nightmares are translated into a universal language. Dante describes Charon as the ferryman of Hades who carries the souls of the deceased across the River Styx. Lucio depicts him as a winged demon with eyes of fire. The boat is a solid mass executed in wrought iron. ©Lucio Bubacco
Lucio in a detail of “La Barca di Dante”. ©Lucio Bubacco
In Venice we could admire two glass sculptures made by this talented master, both of them inspired by Greek and Roman mythology. Baccanale is a lampworked vessel in green-yellow shades that presents a fantastic scene. The Bacchanalia were Roman festivals for Bacchus, the Roman good of agriculture, wine and fertility. A faun and a nude female figure seem to dance around a central giant glass in this glass sculpture. This opulent scene places these two central figures around natural elements.
“Baccanale” from the “Best of Europe” exhibition at Homo Faber 2018. ©Michelangelo Foundation
Tritone e Sirena is another lampworked vessel in predominantly blue shades that represents another imaginary scene inspired by mythological stories. Imagery of the sea surrounds two figures: Neptune, the Roman god of the sea, and a mermaid.
“Tritone e Sirena” from the “Best of Europe” exhibition at Homo Faber 2018. ©Michelangelo Foundation
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