Howard Ben Tré (American, 1949-2020), Basin 6

1991, thick cast glass with interior recess with iron fillings finish, appears unsigned, together with a custom steel stand.

Glass 17 x 33 x 15 in.; stand 24.25 x 37.5 x 14.5 in.

The Contemporary Art Collection of Francine & Benson Pilloff, Chapel Hill, North Carolina

Exhibited:
Fusion: Contemporary Art Glass from North Carolina Collections, North Carolina Museum of Art, 2005 (accompanied with a photo copy from the exhibition)

Accompanied by a soft cover Habatat Galleries exhibition booklet of Howard's basins, 1992; and Howard BenTré, Vessels of Light, Charles Cowles Gallery, illustration 8.

The Christian Science Monitor described Ben Tré's poured glass works as timeless, monumental and "hulking, architectural forms he creates...existed before the dawn of recorded history." His distinctive glass sculptures were pivotal in breaking the barrier of glass from craft to fine art.

Born in Brooklyn, New York, Howard Ben Tré received his undergraduate degree from Portland State University, Oregon, and earned an MFA at the Rhode Island School of Design in 1980. Since the late 1970s, when he first became interested in making cast-glass sculptures, Ben Tré won international recognition for his work.

Early in his career Ben Tré made objects that resembled turbine engines, radiators, and other items that alluded to the world of industry. His later work took on a columnar format and became larger in scale. An industrial ethos still clings to the work, but it frequently also refers to art of the past, including architectural elements borrowed from ancient temples or ziggurats. Almost from the beginning, Ben Tré rejected hand-blown glass, preferring to cast molten glass, using methods he learned in a metal-foundry class at Brooklyn Technical High School.

Good condition with some natural occurring fissures.