Alan Glass's drawings from the 1950s are like swirls of smoke on the verge of assuming solid shape, like rock coming alive and metamorphosing, like plants and animals commingling, their branches and limbs, their eyes and tendrils seeking new paths. Utilising the newly invented ballpoint pen from 1954 to 1962, Glass used this modest instrument to create remarkably intricate and detailed drawings, using variations in pressure and density to conjure forth alternately lush and thick, light and crowded shapes with the appearance of inert matter coming alive. Among the several hundred drawings that Glass produced, there are some in which he used such an abundance of ink that the drawings almost take on the texture of paintings. Here, the flimsy paper is saturated to the degree of appearing soaked in the intense blues that have been a frequently recurring element of Glass's art for almost 70 years. It was the ballpoint-pen drawings that led to Glass's first solo exhibition, organised at Galerie Le Terrain Vague by André Breton and Benjamin Péret in January 1958. Alan Glass (Montreal , June 30, 1932 - Mexico City , January 16, 2023) was a Canadian plastic artist. He was born in Montreal on June 30, 1932, studied at the École beaux-arts de Montréal between 1949 and 1952 and worked in the studio of Alfred Pellan. He received a scholarship from the French government in 1952 and lived in Paris while traveling through Central Europe and the Middle East. During this time he exhibited at the Galerie Le Terrain Vague, where he met André Breton. From 1968 to 1969 he travelled through India and Nepal, particularly in the state of Sikkim. In 1962 he travelled to Mexico for the first time. In the 1970s, he began living between Mexico and Quebec. Alan Glass died in Mexico City on January 16, 2023, at the age of 90. 449 colour, 35 b/w illustrations
