Zimmerman Splash

Jeff Zimmerman is a contemporary sculptor whose primary medium is glass. He often makes use of the vessel form, creating pieces with mirrored, sometimes colorful surfaces and billowy forms that suggest movement.

Zimmerman grew up at the Anderson Ranch Arts Center in Colorado, where he lived with his mother, a painter, and his stepfather, a sculptor. He enrolled at the University of California, Santa Barbara, in 1988 planning to major in anthropology, but a glassblowing class inspired him to change course. He switched to the BFA program at the Appalachian Center for Craft in Tennessee, spending hise summers working as an apprentice at Pilchuck Glass School, in Washington State, where he observed the studio practices of Lino Tagliapietra and Pino Signoretto . After completing his studies, he worked as a master glassblower at CIRVA, the International Center of Research on Glass and Visual Arts, in Marseille, France.

In 1994, Zimmerman became part of the B Team, an avant-garde glassblowing collaborative founded by Zesty Meyers and Evan Snyderman of R & Company gallery, which now represents Zimmerman’s work. The group conducted glassblowing-related performances at colleges and universities and exhibited its work at the New Museum for Contemporary Art in New York.

Zimmerman’s first solo exhibition was the 1999 “Anthropology Museum of the Future,” at UrbanGlass’s Robert Lehman Gallery. He has gained wide acclaim for his series of “Crumpled” vessels, which resemble deflated jars with reflective surfaces that gradually fade into opaque hues. The effect is surreal and dazzling. Using the most enchanting property of glass — its malleability at high temperatures — the sculptor breathes new life into an ancient form, the container.

Zimmerman’s work has been exhibited in New York at Sean Kelly Gallery, the Museum of Arts and Design and the Brooklyn Museum; and in Paris at Emmanuel Perrotin Gallery It can also be found in the permanent collections of the Boghossian Foundation, in Belgium, and in the Corning Museum of Glass, in New York.

Abstract sculpture has evolved over time with artists making a variety of striking statements in stone, bronze, ceramic and other materials. In the collection of abstract sculptures on 1stDibs, you are sure to find a piece that is perfect for your space.

When exploring how to arrange furniture and decor, consider color, texture and what kind of energy it should evoke. Abstract sculpture can elevate any home through its many decorative possibilities.

Auguste Rodin is often called the father of modern sculpture for his pioneering naturalistic forms and figures that vividly express emotion. His work in the 19th and early 20th centuries broke with artistic conventions and inspired modernism, leading to a new period of avant-garde abstraction.

Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque were among the first artists to push abstract sculpture into the mainstream. They helped define the Cubism movement, which focused on deconstructing the world abstractly. Other 20th-century artistic movements, including Italian Futurism, Dadaism, Neo-Dadaism, Surrealism, Abstract Expressionism and Minimalism, all contributed to the advancement of abstract sculpture. Italian Futurism, for example, celebrated movement, dynamics and technology in abstract sculpture. These movements continue to inform abstract sculpture today.

With abstract art — sculpture, painting or a grouping of prints — a work can complement a living room, dining room or other space, or it can act as a bold focal point.

Browse a range of modern abstract sculptures, postmodern abstract sculptures and other sculptures on 1stDibs.