Reflecting on the tiles

Holograhic ties created by glass artist Adriano Gemelli stretch the boundaries, writes JEANETTE LEIGH.

Electric holographic pictures shoot wild colours depicting the sea, sunrise and the artistic visions of painter and glass artist Adriano Gemelli.

Glass, gold, silver, paint and resins are his palette and alongside he uses patented, secret method that took five years to perfect. With these Gemelli can create anything from landscapes to logos, nudes to portraits on any medium.

The exterior of his brick Californian bungalow in Elsternwick gives no hint of the unusual interior where holographic pictures and mirror mosaics cover all walls.

Game fishing and seascapes feature prominently in his holographic collection. As well as being inspired by artists such as Goya, Turner and Gaudi, he says it was summer nights or the memory of dawn on the Continental Shelf that led him to create a new mixed medium.

"I didn't want to produce something that was totally representative but had a life of itself. Art is not just about emulation but about saying something about the subject," he says.

His glass paintings are animated. Walk around them and shapes, lines, vanishing points, horizons, piers, faces and forms drop in and out. The technique allows Gemelli to saturate the pictures with expressive energy, brilliant colour and three dimensions.

"A normal medium wouldn't allow me to capture the movement and elements of the sea and sky. A the same time it has a joyousness about it. This medium lent itself well but it took close on five years to develop it to the point where I could draw with it freely," Gemelli says.

The medium challenges the conventional form because the scope of view is questioned.

"When you look at a normal painting the compositional field is within the construct of where you're standing. In this situation you have a 180 degree view point of perception, with the composition changing on any one of those degrees," Gemelli says.

Layer upon layer of resins, oxidised metals such as silver, brass and 23 carat gold are laminated into the glass.

Laminated glass tiles called Volatiles are a spin-off of the 3D painting technique. They have many application; names, logos, pictures and portraits can be encapsulated in the glass and viewed holographically. They can also be used as cameo tiles in homes or expanded out to murals.

Working in conjunction with architects, Gemelli creates glass murals, hanging glass and acrylic sculptures for public commissions.

Also an accomplished portrait and landscape artist, Gemelli cut his artistic teeth with Clifton Pugh, spending seven years during the 1970s at Pugh's artist colony/home, Dunmoochin in Cottles Bridge, about 48 kilometres from Melbourne. Then he began to work with other mediums including glass sculpture.

A need to explore led Gemelli to this new medium. After his time at Dunmoochin he traveled through Europe on an emotional and educational exploration of the work of great artists.

"When I came back from Europe in '79, I wondered what I was going to do next. I was lying on the floor and I drew a huge palm tree and decided to do in mirrors just for the hell of it. That started me off on the mosaic."

Gemelli begins work by connecting his emotional state with the physicality of the drawing.

"I squeeze and tear at the medium in any possible way and a dialogue goes back and forward. Serendipity plays its part in the interplay between myself and the material and I respond."

Gemelli say it's the same way he would approach a portrait and he's constantly finding things out about the medium, himself and the subject being created.