Hello Art Lovers
Our featured artist this week is a master of creating
beautiful pieces of art using glass.
He is the one and only, Mr. Ricardo Lawyer.
People have come to our gallery, from all over the world,
and have been amazed at the beautiful pieces created by Ricardo.
If I had 10 cents for every time I heard somebody say how
beautiful Ricardo’s pieces were, I would be a millionaire 100 times over by
now.
Ricardo’s work is the foundation upon which the Urban
Paradise Art Gallery stands.
He is indispensable, both as an artist, and as a member
of the artist collective that runs the Gallery.
Ricardo started creating with glass in the mid 1970’s.
He was collecting driftwood and needed to make some glass
lampshades for some pieces he had created.
The miracle conversion, from creating with wood to creating
with glass, occurred as soon as he stepped inside the stained glass supply shop
to purchase material for the glass lampshades.
“My first creations were cold glass, stained glass
giftware and windows. Ashanti Glass was my first venture into the professional
art scene as a stained glass artist. I moved into glass blowing by chance when
I moved next door to a glass blower. I trained under the watchful eye of John
Anthony of Barrier Reef. With that experience I
opened The Glass Studio in Fortitude Valley which was the only hot glass
blowing studio in Brisbane. During that time, I became a member of the
Queensland Artist Inc. and had a chance to create with, and learn from, many
different master glass blowers. A contract came my way from the Middle East, and
I spent ten years making glass for the top Hotels in the area.
“What is glass is to me, and why have I spent 30 plus years
doing something that is physically demanding? The answer is simple, it is about the movement of
the glass in its molten state. As a sportsman, watching athletes preform
inspired me to start making sculptures of people dancing and other works of art
that included graceful human movement. When the glass is moving, and the
sculpture is as well, cooling the glass at the right moment to freeze the
action is my pleasure. It is movement, frozen in time. Another aspect
relating to movement is how the artist moves while making a piece. When
spinning a platter, the shape has a lot to do with the individual’s dance. An excellent
example of this is my bowls. My bowls are like waves raging on the ocean, not
mere ripples one can hardly notice. The next aspect is the light and the way
coloured glass reacts to different depth, thickness, brightness and
colour combinations. These are some of the more important aspects of
glassblowing that drew me into the medium in the first place.”
Ricardo Lawyer has had a great career, with many beautiful
creations, and many interesting highlights.
He created 1500 separate glass works of art for the
internationally renowned, five star, Hilton Hotel Chain.
The Hilton is not the only internationally renowned hotel
chain to recognise Ricardo’s talent. He has decorated the Art N Tech Hotel, The
Marina Hotel, The Crowne Plaza, The Marriot and numerous others.
The music industry has also recognised his immense talent, and
had Ricardo Lawyer create the Queensland Regional Music Awards.
When asked what his most important undertaking was, Ricardo
replied, “Making replicas of Museum pieces lost during the Iraqi invasion.”
Ricardo Lawyer is a one of a kind artist and we are proud
to have him display his creations at the Urban Paradise Art Gallery.
On behalf of art lovers everywhere, thank you Ricardo for
your years of passionate creating that has brought so many people joy.
Nullius in verba.
