Wexler Gallery
201 North Third Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19106
215-923-7030
About Auction House
Challenging the traditional labels that categorize art, Wexler Gallery exhibits work that coexists in the expressive realms of design, fine art and contemporary glass and ceramics. Questioning and testing the boundaries of these fields, Wexler Gallery aims to present functional and non-functional work that consistently celebrates innovation as much as aesthetic beauty.Auction Previews & News
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Auction PreviewContemporary Glass: 1975-Present
Wexler Gallery will offer the upcoming Contemporary Glass auction, featuring works from 1975 to the present. Particularly highlighted is a blown glass piece by William Morris, an American artisan who uses glass to imitate ancient stone and wood carvings. The available 1997 piece is shaped to resemble a carved wooden horse, spotted on its back and missing its head. Speaking to the style of his work, Morris has stated, “Art arrests attention, it is an important service to the soul... Glassblowing is the closest thing to alchemy that I know of.” Morris spent ten years working under Dale Chihuly before launching his own career. Several of Chihuly’s works are on offer as well, including two Seaform sculptures. One of the available pieces is made of clear glass, edged in black. Among the lots of interest is a set of three pieces by Andy Paiko. The contemporary artist is known for his hanging sculptures and his use of glass to recreate old antiques, ranging from bell jars to absinthe fountains and reliquaries. The available triad is made of assembled glass, walnut, maple, copper, brass, poison oak seeds, and woodpecker feathers. Rounding out the sale is a lot from Chicago-based artist Joseph Ivacic. Scarab was made in 2016 and resembles two detailed spray paint cans resting on a corner shelf. Browse the complete catalog for this auction and register to bid on Bidsquare
Press ReleaseBridget Foley’s Diary: Salon Style
The Wendell Castle dining set at Wexler Gallery It seems there’s barely a topic in American life that can’t wend in short order toward Donald Trump. But the presence of glass exhibitors at The Salon: Art + Design, which opened Thursday night at the Park Avenue Armory? Yes, even that. Jill Bokor is the executive director of the show, which typically opens on the Thursday after Election Day. (Thursday’s opening benefited the Dia Art Foundation.) Over a recent coffee at the Americano, Bokor recounted what she calls “the misery of two years ago,” when the shock of Trump’s presidential win was still very new and, for many, very raw. On that opening evening, attendees found their focus diverted from shopping. “They wanted to look, they wanted to see each other and they wanted to sob,” Bokor recalled, though she added a quick inclusivity caveat: “I mean, there were probably people there who’d voted for Trump.” The following Saturday, typically the event’s biggest day, traffic woes generated by anti-Trump demonstrations caused a dip in show traffic, which caused a dip in sales, and crappy sales led some vendors to drop out. That left Bokor challenged “to make lemonade out of lemons.” Or at least to procure highfalutin vessels for lemonade, because at that point, the show was lacking in impressive glassware, and she sought out that category to fill the vacancies. So in a way, anyone smitten by the midcentury Italian glass at Glass Past or contemporary pieces at Heller Gallery has Trump to thank. Achieving a compelling exhibitor mix is essential to a successful show. While proud that 21 vendors have stayed with the event since its inception, Bokor noted that healthy movement around that core makes for an interesting, ever-evolving event. Once all gallerists are confirmed, she arranges the floor plan to afford each maximum impact, a task she considers one of the most difficult aspects of staging a show of this scale. To illustrate, she ran through the order of a few stations: Enter and turn right to come upon antiquities next to Seventies-and-Eighties French next to contemporary…
