This large verre eglomise artwork was commissioned for the Old Town Scottsdale, Arizona location of Drakes Hollywood. The artwork is a heavily Art Deco inspired depiction of the element of “Air” and is a combination of 23.75k gold leaf, 22k gold leaf, 12k white gold leaf, Copper leaf, and silver leaf and enamels.
The artwork measures 129” x 21” and is comprised of 3 panels and is installed in Drakes Hollywood’s bar area.
Background on the Imagery:
In the classical tradition of the four elements, first set forth by Empedocles in the fifth century BCE as the unchanging roots of all things and later systematized by Aristotle, Air is the hot and moist principle whose natural motion is upward, mediating between Fire and Water and serving as the vehicle of breath, spirit, and intellect. It corresponds to the season of spring, the sanguine temperament, and the humour of blood, and in alchemical practice it stands for volatility, refinement, and the subtle body that carries the anima mundi. In Renaissance and Baroque decorative arts this element was frequently personified as Juno attended by peacocks and birds of the air, or rendered through open skies, winds, and winged creatures, as seen in the allegorical series of Arcimboldo, the tapestries of Charles Le Brun, and the gilded cabinets of the period. Rendered here in verre églomisé—the reverse-gilded glass technique revived in eighteenth-century France yet rooted in far older methods of working gold leaf behind glass—the panel continues that long iconographic lineage, giving the invisible element a luminous, fixed presence within the craft tradition of allegorical decoration.
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