Glasswork deserves more attention and credit in the fine arts world than it's often given. The show at Bullseye Connection Gallery showcases work that exemplifies the medium's complex magic through the talents of three distinct artists: Bennett Battaile, a Portland artist; Tel Aviv's Dafna Kaffeman, and the German-born but Canada-based Anja Isphording.
All three offer delectable pieces, but Battaile and Kaffeman grab the spotlight here with ethereal, breathtaking works that give the show its name, "What on Earth."
In Battaile's "History," glass as thin as angel hair pasta bends in seemingly random angles and symmetries, clear strands intertwining with dark to form a dense, 3-foot cube. It's as if the cumulative mass of human thought and emotion had been crunched in some cosmic junkyard compactor -- and it shimmers like a compressed rainstorm in the light thrown from passing cars outside the gallery window.
While "History" is so intricate that it seems the weight of light could shatter it, Battaile's "Turk's Head" is so delicate it just about moves with the viewer's breath. The gallery probably doesn't condone wheezing all over the sculpture, but exhale lightly near the brain-shaped object, similarly constructed of thin glass strands, and it swings gently on the clear fishing lines suspending it.
Kaffeman's offerings are equally stunning. Her "Tactual Stimulation" series is a grouping of dense assemblages that resemble sea anemones and pin cushions in shades of lavender, Tiffany blue and vivid, grass green. Each is constructed from individual strands of glass that are adhered to a doughnut of silicone and layered as she works.
"What on Earth" is at Bullseye Connection Gallery, 300 N.W. 13th Ave.; 503-227-0222; through June 11.
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