Jeff Zimmerman

Courtesy of the Artist and R & Company

Acquired directly from artist (2021)

"Jeff Zimmerman: New Work" (2022), solo exhibition of the artist's work at R & Company.

World-renowned glass artist, Jeff Zimmerman (b. 1968) creates objects and furniture that draw visual inspiration from nature to achieve an otherworldly presence. In 1988, while studying Anthropology, Zimmerman took his first glass-blowing class, which led him to a newfound passion. He decided to pursue his BFA at the Appalachian Center for Craft in Tennessee and learn the classical Venetian approach to glass blowing. He later worked as a master glass blower at C.I.R.V.A. in Marseille, France, in 1990, and traveled throughout Europe to study with esteemed artists Robert Wilson, Gaetano Pesce, and Robert Morris. From there, Zimmerman joined a collaborative, experimental glass blowing group called the B Team in 1991, which received a BESSY award from the Dance Theater Workshop for their performances, as well as a Tiffany Award. He debuted his first solo installation in 1999 at the Robert Lehman Gallery in Brooklyn, New York, and later served on the faculty of Urban Glass for three years.

Zimmerman’s signature functional and decorative objects are formed using dramatic pushing, pulling, dripping, and spinning actions—processes that he exploits to suggest the mutability of the world around us. By relying on chance, Zimmerman aims for his work to grow into naturally occurring structures, like crystal and crustacean formations, or root and branch patterns. The artist’s affinity for nature and the beauty of its imperfections is further understood through the titles of his work, such as Crumpled and Crystal vessels, Galaxy and Coral clusters, and most famously, his Vine illuminated sculptures. These forms are further embellished with vibrant color, mirroring, and delicate added elements. Zimmerman celebrates natural structures and formations by bringing them into interior spaces, presenting the opportunity to form deep connections between the work, the environment, and its occupants. Jeff Zimmerman has exhibited at galleries and institutions internationally, including Sean Kelly Gallery, New York; the Brooklyn Museum of Art, New York; Museum of Arts and Design, New York; and Emmanuel Perrotin Gallery, Paris. His work is in the permanent collections of the Corning Museum of Glass and the Boghossian Foundation in Belgium, as well as private collections worldwide.

Zimmerman currently lives and works between Brooklyn, New York and Portland, Washington.