December 6, 2010

2 Lincoln Square is a residential high-rise in the heart of the Upper West Side, New York City. The 37 story tower was constructed in 1975. Recent lobby and entry renovation included glass artwork commissioned for permanent installation above the concierge desk. After two and a half years of design and fabrication, the artwork was installed on November 24, 2010.

Aria was primarily inspired by the trees of Central Park the and concentration of performing arts across the street at Lincoln Center: New York Philharmonic, New York City Ballet, Metropolitan Opera, and the New York City Opera. Within the finely appointed lobby, the artwork depicts an elegant tree in autumn. Textural layers interact, well described by the French concept of unisson which denotes symphonic accord. Leaves each individually exist amid the visage of leaves drifting a l’unisson. Aria is a visual fugue; detailed layers coexistent as complementing melodies.

Aria is a single multi-layered glass panel measuring approximately 11’ x 6.5’. Overall thickness ranges from 3/4” to 1”. The frame measures approximately 12’ x 7.5’ x 9”. 209 shaped glass pieces are liquid laminated to the structural glass substrate. Individual pieces are exquisitely colored and mouth-blown Lamberts Flash glass. The glass shapes articulate masses of the leaf canopy and the tree and branches — detailed by laser etching, carving, and kiln-fired hand painting.

A staircase ascends along the backside and features are more pronounced from one of the two viewing sides. Immediate proximity is available from the stair side view, and the lobby side is viewable whether standing at the concierge desk or looking inside from across the street. The lobby side features the etched composition of drifting leaves, color gradation, and finely crafted detail of the full-panel silkscreen. The stair side features bold color unrestrained by the translucent plum silkscreen that shapes the palette visible from the lobby side. A Steinway grand piano is permanently installed in the lobby. Reflections abound in the rich black lacquered wood. Aria’s frame is similarly finished.

I greatly appreciate the expertise and work of individuals and teams who together achieved project objectives during the 2.5 year timeline: from the initial design concept furnished by ownership to the direction and design collaboration of ownership through the entire project, from the master craftspersons hand-painting and kiln firing the laser-etched glass at Glasmalerei Peters to Mr. Kaufmann managing the German studio’s project, from woodworkers sanding coats of black lacquer for the glass frame to the carpenters and adept supervisor operating the forklift during installation. There also are also those who were less visibly involved yet equally vital to the project success, such as the FedEx pilots and Mr. Seymour and the operational support, master glass blowers at Glashuette Lamberts in Germany, the DELL computer hardware engineers and 24/7 industrial grade support, Mr. Kern and his team for the excellent support of the KERN industrial laser equipment, and the Autodesk and Adobe engineers and designers who built the software that allowed me to build custom tools and compose leaves aloft. The list is much longer than listed here. Thank you all.

Aria was executed with a combination of traditional, contemporary, and custom techniques. The variety of tasks was inspiring, intriguing, and availed unique technical challenges. I conceptually collaborated with the design team, shot the photograph from which the work was developed, drew the glass shapes, hand painted the set of gestural leaves, illustrated the representational set of leaves, invented and built the 3-D leaf population system, composed the full-panel silkscreen and painted gestural brushwork, selected the autumnal palette of glass and paint colors outside the tree, composed the foremost etched layer of falling leaves, invented and prototyped the laser etching technique, produced illustrations for fabrication, produced and digitally mastered all fabrication data, designed the wood and steel frame that others engineered, photographically surveyed Central Park and the site and the urban environment, directed fabrication though specialty glass facilities in Germany and California, and oversaw the installation.

The spirit of the art is intuitively accessible as a celebration of the grandeur of raw beauty within nature. Aria is intended to be a resident source of inspiration, meditation, and serenity.

Christian Karl Janssen
Artist, CEO
Wood Janssen Incorporated
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