Ebb & Flow by Louis Thompson

Lobby of One Canada Square, Canary Wharf, E14 5AB | 21 June – 20 August 2022 | Curated by Jacquiline Creswell

Glass is a captivating, versatile medium, which touches our lives in so many ways. It possesses transcendent qualities beyond its physicality, with its unique characteristics able to transform our environment and the way we see things. To celebrate the United Nations ‘Year of Glass 2022’ I have invited Louis Thompson, one of London’s most innovative, multi-award-winning glass artists, to create a new exhibition in the Lobby of 1 Canada Square, bringing together important works from across his career.   

Louis exploits the inherent properties of glass using various methods of making which include blown and solid sculpted glass. The installations range from flamboyantly colourful, tactile and organic installations where forms precede and are followed by accumulations and gatherings, while other displays are cogent and impactful architectural aesthetic, narrative statements. His work is not only commanding and enchanting, it’s also powerfully conceptual. Every sculpture tells a story.   

Ebb & Flow presents thirteen installations, including Broken Ocean, DNA Taxonomy, Broken Thames and the Jerwood Installation. These works explore the artist’s journey as a glass artist and underline the themes that define his personal iconography of narratives, groupings, collections and archives. Louis states that his aim is to make an intervention in a space that allows us to experience that space in a new and exciting way. Through each installation we observe him developing and refining his techniques and forms. He explains that he is always learning something new, each piece is a new adventure with an unknown outcome, requiring great skill, patience and creativity.  

Louis says, “I love the material, its physical challenges, its intellectual rigour. It stretches my imagination and my ability. Glass is my visual language.” 

Louis is an alchemist who transforms sand into spectacular crystalline objects with that sense of awe when a molten mass is transformed into a precious, jewel -like solid form. He brings a human connection to his colourful, tactile creations, which elicit wonder, transmitting, reflecting and refracting light. Thompson’s glass sculptures draw us into their depths, where DNA helixes and delicate golden filaments sit magically suspended, animated, frozen in elegant glass forms.   

Glass blowing is used to inflate glass by blowing through a metal blowpipe. The sculpting process is entrancing, yet extremely challenging as the glass bubble inflates. It looks effortless, however the flow of air pressure must be consistent, incredibly difficult when the temperature is a scalding I,090 degrees Celsius. This technique requires a team approach. Louis enjoys the sharing and exchange of ideas, knowledge and skills, which he embraces as he collaborates with other glass artists such as, Hanne Enemark and Sophie Thomas, who have collaborated with Louis to produce some of the works in this exhibition.   

Louis gained a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1988, followed by an MA degree at  Royal College of Art. He has exhibited and worked with artists from around the globe, including at the international exhibition of glass in Kanazawa Japan,  The Saatchi Gallery London and SOFA Chicago. His work is held in public and museum collections in Belgium, The V&A Museum London, the Czech Republic, Germany among others. Louis has completed a number of prestigious residencies around the world including Glazenhuis Museum, Belgium and  Soneva Art Glass in Maldives.  

Words by Jacquiline Creswell 

View all exhibition Artworks 

Further information | canarywharf.com
Join the conversation on Instagram | Vessel Gallery @vessellondon | Canary Wharf @canarywharflondon | Jacquiline Creswell @visualartsadvisor | Louis Thompson @louisglass | Hanne Enemark @hanne.enemark | Sophie Thomas @tmsophie

All works are unique and will be on show until Saturday 20 August 2022
FREE entry
Photography courtesy of the Canary Wharf Group and photographer Sean Pollock

Ebb & Flow | A film by Louis Thompson
 
Dew Drops Installation
H 102cm, W 150cm, D 150cm | Individual elements H 10cm - 33cm | Blown and sculpted glass


Broken Ocean Installation created in collaboration with Sophie Thomas
H 140cm, W 540cm, D 120cm | Blown and sculpted glass with ocean plastic and fishing net


DNA Taxonomy Installations - left to right;

DNA Sequence II
H 175cm, W 50cm, D 42.5cm | Blown and sculpted glass with steel stand

DNA Allel Bottles
H 175cm, W 200cm, D 42.5cm | Blown and sculpted glass with steel stand

Dancing Genes Allel 1
H 175cm, W 80cm, D 42.5cm | Blown and sculpted glass with steel stand


DNA Sequence I
H 175cm, W 200cm, D 42.5cm | Blown and sculpted glass with steel stand


Dancing Genes DNA Sequence
H 175cm, W 80cm, D 42.5cm | Blown and sculpted glass with steel stand


DNA Sequence III
H 175cm, W 50cm, D 42.5cm | Blown and sculpted glass with steel stand


Ore Installation created in collaboration with Hanne Enemark
H 165cm, W 420cm, D 60cm | Individual artworks H 36cm - 59cm | Blown and sculpted glass


Enchanted Installation
H 173cm, W 250cm, D 40cm | Individual artworks H 31cm - 70.5cm | Blown and sculpted glass


Altar Installation
H 246cm, W 150cm, D 70cm | Individual artworks H 14cm  - 65cm | Blown and sculpted glass


Cryptograph Installation
H 137cm, W 250cm, D 40cm | Individual artworks H 31cm - 35cm | Blown and sculpted glass


Hive Installation
H 170cm, W 400cm, D 40cm | Blown and sculpted glass with distilled water and rubber bungs


Sigmund Freud's Dreamcatching Apparatus C1910
H 183cm, W 250cm, D 40cm | Blown and sculpted glass with pre-made scientifically precise glassware created circa 1910, plastic tube and rubber bungs


Ore Totem Installation - left to right;

Ore Totem in Aquamarine & Pale Turquoise with Platinum
H 84cm, W 21cm, D 18cm | Blown and sculpted glass

Ore Totem in Iron Blue & Pale Turquoise with Platinum
H 82cm, W 21cm, D 17cm | Blown and sculpted glass


Panicum and Penumbra Installation created in collaboration with Hanne Enemark
H 150cm, W 150cm, D 60cm | Individual artworks H 42.5cm - 47cm | Blown and sculpted glass


Seven Stages of Degradation created in collaboration with Sophie Thomas
H 32cm, W 80cm, D 11cm | Blown and sculpted glass with ocean plastic