MICHAEL BEHRENS

“I began experimenting with glass in 2002. From the very beginning, I was inspired by nature, especially the alteration of the world and its perception, observed through water. Over the years this fascination led me to a profound involvement with the relationship between outer shape and content. Transferring old shapes giving way to a new expressive form language. As with every sculptor, the model is placed in a special context interrelating with its surrounding. While creating glass objects, its transparency needs to be taken into consideration as the sculpture functions as a visible space.”

Michael Behrens, grown up in Neuss, lives and works in Düsseldorf, Germany. From 1999 to 2003 Behrens studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Maastricht, Netherlands where he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in 2003. In 2004 and 2007, Behrens worked as a project supervisor for Ethiopian Reflections in Addis Abeba, Ethiopia. In 2008 and 2009, he was assigned as a lecturer at the Faculty of Architecture – Plastic Shaping at the Technical University (TU) Darmstadt. In 2010, Michael Behrens spent several months in Damascus, Syria, coordinating and supervising the Arte Vetro project “Kiln-Formed Glass”. 

Michael Behrens began experimenting with glass in 2002. Nature and the surrounding environment, especially the underwater world, inspire his work. The use of a limited color palette and the cell-like structures resulting from the fusion of the utilized glass pieces, are the main characteristics of his works. The relationship between shape and content is of high importance in Behrens’ work. The outer shapes of his sculptures appear deliberately random, supported by the fine, relief-like crimped modeling of the edges and the interplay of both matte and polished surfaces.

Behrens produces all artworks in his studio in Düsseldorf in his custom-built furnaces. Each piece undergoes several complex production phases: The sculptural work begins with a rigid foam model, the production of the melting molds, the arrangement of pre-processed glass pieces in the melting mold, the actual melting and cooling processes as well as the finish by grinding, polishing and/or sandblasting. The production of a single sculpture usually takes several months.

Selected Collections:

 Seven Bridges Foundation, Greenwich, CT

Ernsting Stiftung, Coesfeld, Germany

Uroboros Glass Studios, Portland, OR

Museum Kunst Palast, Düsseldorf, Germany

Museum Ajeto, Nový Bor, Czech Republic

Glass Museum Immenhausen, Immenhausen, Germany

Museum of Modern Glass, Öhringen, Germany

Glass Museum Lauscha, Germany