Light Embodied

For this exhibition, Edmond Byrne continues exploring the sensory dialogue between vessel and viewer, taking inspiration from French philosopher Maurice Merleau-Ponty’s (1908-1961) ideas on embodiment and perception. Applied to Byrne’s work, the glass vessels are not solely objects to be seen but are designed to engage the senses more fully – through the interplay of texture, colour, transparency and light as the viewer moves around the pieces. Byrne explores how perception is not a passive act, but a tactile and embodied experience.

Byrne’s vessels invite the viewer to gaze beyond their translucent walls, drawing attention to their dual surfaces: the outer wall, marked with patina and texture, and the vessel’s inner face, quenched in colour. Together, they encompass the material body of the wall. These walls are not barriers but thresholds – interfaces where the surface and colour intertwine with the viewer’s perception.

Merleau-Ponty refers to the concept of "flesh" to describe this relationship between us and the world – he proposes that there is no sharp division between the sensing and the sensed, between body and object, ontologically being one common “flesh”. Byrne interprets this “flesh” in the walls of his vessels. As light passes through, it animates the vessels and becomes the ‘flesh’ of the glass. The outer surface, textured and skin-like, holds a tactile presence, whilst the light entwines through and within. The colour projected through the variations of semi-transparent glass shifts our perception, inviting an intimate exploration of the material’s qualities.

Private View: Saturday 25th January, 4 - 6pm