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© Richard Willebrands
© Richard Willebrands
© Richard Willebrands
© Richard Willebrands

Louis La Rooy

  • Glass sculptor
  • Almere, Netherlands
  • Master Artisan
Louis La Rooy Glass sculptor
Contact
Dutch, English, German, Spanish
Hours:
By appointment only
Phone:
+31 0625241909
© Richard Willebrands

Fusing glass into abstract art

  • • Louis paints his sculptures with layered glass
  • • Collaboration with other glass blowers is vital to him
  • • He takes on monumental artistic commissions

Louis La Rooy discovered an affinity with glass while working as a decorator for a window-display materials business. When glass was introduced to the mix, he realised its allure. He spread his artistic wings by joining a glass processing company, Van Tetterode Glasindustrie where he grew to become an integral part of the art department there, learning to master sandblasting, polishing, etching, appliqué and fusing techniques. The renowned atelier had already made a name for itself in its collaboration with eminent artists such as Karel Appel and Corneille at the end of the 1950s and 1960s. In recent years, his art has focussed on human – as well as animal – heads, finding himself teetering on the edge of creating cartoons.

Read the full interview

Works

  • © Richard Willebrands
  • © Richard Willebrands
  • © Richard Willebrands
  • © Richard Willebrands
  • © Richard Willebrands
Photo: © Richard Willebrands
Dreaming Away

A glass sculpture of a head lying back lazily on some grass with a flower in their mouth, dreaming away. The so-called skull is captured in a bright yellow and the brain in a turquoise blue, the cheeks are made up of circular blue glass shapes and the mouth is red holding a daisy that has been prepared before fusing onto the main sculpture. A coil of transparent glass protrudes from the top of the head symbolising the dreamy thoughts that are being conjured up.

Height 46 cm

Photo: © Richard Willebrands
Crazy Monkey

A glass sculpture of a monkey’s head made by fusing and blowing. The head is of orange glass with a decorative green line on the ears, which have been added on to the head with sculpting techniques. The snout is portrayed through diagonal cobalt blue lines in layered glass and its fur consists of individual cobalt blue oval pieces giving the monkey its characteristic crazy appearance.

Height 38 cm

Photo: © Richard Willebrands
Heidi, 20 years later

Made with fused, blown cold work, this glass statue is of a female head. The distinctive feature is the glass hair captured in a warm, yellow and curling up at the ends. The eyes are set close together and are almond shaped, in a deep red and the pupils are of sea-blue glass. The hair and the eyes have been added to the head with sculpting and moulding techniques. The rest of the face is multicoloured in layers of fused and blown glass.

Height 35 cm

Photo: © Richard Willebrands
Rising Sea Level

This is a glass statue of a cow’s head caught by surprise after capturing a fish in its mouth, rather than a clump of grass, alluding to ever rising sea levels. The cow looks as though it’s wearing a pair of red goggles that have been added onto the main glass structure through sculpting. Its prominent ears are cobalt blue, added by moulding molten glass. The cow’s mouth is open containing the fish that has a light blue transparency, so that the cow’s teeth can be clearly discerned gripping the fish’s body.

Height 40 cm

Photo: © Richard Willebrands
The Room in my Head

This is a glass statue of a head with a cigarette dangling in his mouth contemplating the emptiness of his existence, as symbolised by the empty space in the top left side of his brain. The statue is composed of fused layers of blue, yellow, green, and red glass and the cigarette has been added in transparent glass using moulding and sculpting techniques. A combination of fuse, blow and cold work has been applied.

Height 41 cm

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