Josiah McElheny creates finely crafted, handmade glass objects that he combines with photographs, text, and museological displays to evoke notions of meaning and memory. Whether recreating miraculous glass objects pictured in Renaissance paintings or modernized versions of non-extant glassware from documentary photographs, McElheny’s work takes as its subject the object, idea, and social nexus of glass. Influenced by the writings of Jorge Luis Borges, McElheny’s work often takes the form of “historical fiction”—which he offers to the viewer to believe or not. Part of McElheny’s fascination with storytelling is that glassmaking is part of an oral tradition, handed down generation to generation, artisan to artisan.

10 VideosSeriesFeatured Artist(s)Date

Making a Projection Painting

Josiah McElheny

3:54
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2/12/2016

Paintings

Josiah McElheny

3:38
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Paintings

Josiah McElheny

10/23/2015

History & Originality

Josiah McElheny

3:02
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History & Originality

Josiah McElheny

10/9/2009

Assistant Anders Rydstedt

Josiah McElheny

2:07
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Assistant Anders Rydstedt

Josiah McElheny

8/13/2009

Beauty & Seduction

Josiah McElheny

3:28
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Beauty & Seduction

Josiah McElheny

6/25/2009

Assistant Martha Friedman

Josiah McElheny

2:38
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Assistant Martha Friedman

Josiah McElheny

5/21/2009

"Conceptual Drawings for a Chandelier, 1965"

Josiah McElheny

3:25
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5/29/2008

"The Alpine Cathedral and the City-Crown"

Josiah McElheny

1:59
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5/15/2008

Memory

54:10

9/23/2005

Josiah McElheny in "Memory"

13:13
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9/23/2005