COLLABORATIONS
In collaboration with Austin Art Projects, HOHMANN is pleased to present an exhibition of glass sculptures by Dante Marioni and John Kiley.
The collaboration between Dante Marioni and John Kiley is, in many ways, a conversation within the language of glass itself—one spoken fluently, but with two distinct accents. Both artists are deeply rooted in the traditions of Venetian glassblowing, yet neither is content to remain within its historical boundaries. What emerges in this exhibition is not a nostalgic homage to craft, but a confident and contemporary expansion of it.
Marioni has long been celebrated as one of the defining figures of American studio glass. His work is grounded in a rigorous understanding of form and proportion, often distilled into vessels that feel at once classical and immediate. There is a performative aspect to his process—an almost athletic negotiation with molten material—that results in objects of striking clarity and presence. His forms are resolved in the heat of the moment, shaped by instinct as much as by discipline.
Kiley, also working at the forefront of contemporary glass, approaches the medium with a complementary sensibility. Where Marioni’s work often emphasizes purity and reduction, Kiley introduces a subtle complexity—layering color, pattern, and structure in ways that expand the visual vocabulary of glass. His pieces reveal a sensitivity to surface and rhythm, often unfolding over time as the viewer becomes aware of their internal relationships and shifting optical effects.
In their collaborative works, these two approaches do not compete; they interlock. The sculptures presented in this exhibition are the result of a shared process at the furnace—an exchange that requires not only technical mastery, but also a rare level of trust. Glass, after all, does not allow for hesitation. Decisions must be made in real time, and each gesture carries consequences. That these works feel so resolved is a testament to the artists’ ability to think and act as a single, fluid entity.
The resulting forms move beyond the notion of the vessel, even when they reference it. Handles extend, contours shift, colors interact—what might begin as a familiar silhouette evolves into something more dynamic, more unpredictable. Transparency and opacity play against one another, while layers of color seem to hover within the glass, creating a sense of depth that is both physical and optical. These are objects that reward close looking, revealing their complexity gradually rather than all at once.
There is also a palpable sense of dialogue embedded in the work. One can sense moments of assertion and response, of proposition and refinement—gestures that belong to one artist and are answered by the other. Yet the authorship ultimately dissolves into the finished piece. What remains is not a negotiation, but a synthesis.
Historically, glass has often been positioned between craft and fine art, a categorization that has never quite done justice to its possibilities. Marioni and Kiley operate well beyond that outdated distinction. Their collaboration underscores glass as a medium capable of both intellectual rigor and formal innovation, while still retaining the visceral immediacy that comes from working with a material in constant flux.
Installed in the gallery, the works engage directly with light—absorbing, reflecting, and refracting it in ways that animate the surrounding space. They shift subtly as the viewer moves, offering new readings from every angle. It is this interplay between object, light, and perception that ultimately defines the exhibition: a reminder that glass, for all its apparent solidity, remains a medium of transformation.
This exhibition presents a rare opportunity to experience the outcome of a true artistic partnership—one in which two highly accomplished practitioners meet on equal footing and push each other toward new territory. The result is not simply a merging of styles, but the creation of something altogether more compelling: a body of work that feels both grounded in tradition and unmistakably of the present.