EVERYTHING WAS BEAUTIFUL, AND NOTHING HURT

3rd December 2022 - 5th February 2023

The Lock-Up, Newcastle

In Everything was Beautiful, and Nothing Hurt, Alex Seton creates a series of glass installations that contemplate memory, forgetting, and loss with the passing of time.

Created specially for the cells of The Lock-Up, Seton presents a series of chandeliers in tribute to those made by Newcastle’s discontinued Leonora Glassworks. Each piece riffs upon chandeliers that were ubiquitous in the entranceways of clubs and RSLs of post- World War II Australia.

The title of the show refers to Kurt Vonnegut’s singular anti-war novel about the fire bombing of Dresden that dislocates linear time. The founders of the Leonora glassworks started out making aircraft bomb-sights, but flourished when they moved into art glass.

This exhibition also reflects what writer Mark Twain observed about Australian history, “it does not read like history, but like the most beautiful lies”. There is a tragedy to a country that struggles with the more violent aspects of its history when they are annealed into every moment, both light and dark.

109 soda glass jars, nylon, steel, marble offcuts
287 x 140 x 712 cm (variable)
Glassblower: Katie Ann-Houghton

Everything was Beautiful, and Nothing Hurt, 2022
109 soda glass jars, nylon, steel, marble offcuts
287 x 140 x 712 cm (variable)
Glassblower: Katie Ann-Houghton

Many Marvellous Moments Seen all at One Time, 2022
Soda glass, LED lights
Dimensions variable
Glassblower: Netty Blair

Time is Ripe, 2022
Soda glass, LED lights, copper, brass
135 x 16 x 16 cm
Glassblower: Tom Rowney

Still very much Alive in the Past, 2022
Soda + boro glass, brass, plywood, LED panel
210 x 67 x 67 cm
Glass blower: Katie Ann-Houghton

The Amber of this Moment, 2022
48 soda glass droplets, copper, brass and 6x1600lm LEDs
185 x 80 x 60 cm
Glassblower: Tom Rowney

The Moment is Structured that Way, 2022
58 soda glass circular pieces, copper, brass, steel
220 x 170 x 150 cm
Glassblower: Netty Blair

Trying to Reinvent Themselves and Their Universe, 2022
Soda glass, copper and brass, 1600lm LEDs
155 x 30 x 30 cm each (approximate)
Glassblower: Tom Rowney

Pillar of Salt, 2022
Soda glass, 1600lm LED, copper
103 x 12 x 12 cm
Glassblower: Tom Rowney

Unstuck in Time, 2022
Soda glass, copper, 1600lm LED lights 128 x 12 x 12 cm
Glassblower: Tom Rowney