Galleria Abscondita is pleased to present the work of contemporary glass artist Massimo Nordio, a master of Murano murrina, whose work explores the numerous technical, material, and chromatic possibilities of Murano glass.

“Opposition brings concord. Out of discord comes the fairest harmony”: this Heraclitean motto perfectly emblematizes the work of Massimo Nordio, whose creations evoke not only the philosophical doctrine of the unity of opposites but also elements of Taoist meditative practices.

His works alternate light and dark, soft and vibrant hues, opacity and transparency, fused and crafted glass, creating contrasts that emerge from a composition of murrine - the tiny glass tesserae that form the fabric of his pieces - or from crafted glass canes.

The murrine take on a deep symbolic significance: they are ideograms, signifiers of an ancient language that bears witness to a powerful primordial gesture. Their arrangement follows a pattern of tribal musicality, where the distribution of elements corresponds to purifying rhythms.

In his artistic practice, Nordio arranges the murrine in a modular mosaic-like structure, which is first fused to bond the tesserae together. The whole composition is then rolled around a molten glass cylinder and finally blown, always preserving the original colors and geometric patterns.

The result is always an object where form, functionality, and decoration resonate in unison, offering a surface that invites the viewer to a tactile and multisensory experience, where light and shadow dance in perpetual interplay.

If Nordio were glass, he would be exactly like his works.

Massimo Nordio (Venezia, 1947) lives and works in Venice, Italy. As a collector and photographer of glass objects, he developed a deep passion for the material, gaining a profound understanding of colors and glassworking techniques. Since the late 1980s, he has been experimenting and specializing in mosaic glass and the production of handmade murrine, later used to create vase-sculptures. From the 1990s onward, his works have been exhibited in major private galleries and the most important museums dedicated to Murano glass and decorative arts.

His works have recently been exhibited at: Giochi di sponda. Una collezione di vetro contemporaneo, Palazzo Loredan, Venezia (2022); L’Arca di vetro. La collezione di animali di Pierre Rosenberg, Le stanze del vetro, Fondazione Cini, Venezia (2021); Divetro. Biennale del vetro contemporaneo, Sansepolcro, Italy (2016); Arte del vetro oggi, Villa Necchi-Campiglio, Milano (2015).

His works are included in the collections of: The Corning Museum of Glass, New York; Chrysler Museum of Art, New York; Glasmuseum Hentrich im Kunstpalast, Düsseldorf; Musée des Arts décoratifs - MAD, Paris; Museo del Vetro di Murano, Venezia; Daiichi Museum e Furukawa Art Museum, Nagoya, Japan