Artist Email: cavaglass@gmail.com
Artist Website: cavaglass.com
Medium: Stained glass- painted, airbrushed, and silk screened
Artist Statement
Joseph Cavalieri comes from a design background, art directing at GQ and People Magazines. Cavalieri’s aim is to merge contemporary imagery with the time-honored processes of painted stained glass. This technique was originally created by Medieval stained glass artists, and uses enamel paints which are made of ground glass, metals and pigment. These paints are applied to the glass surface then kiln fired at a temperature of 1300 degrees Fahrenheit (700 degrees Celsius). Once cooled the glass is soldered together with lead. Most of Joseph’s work is set into wall hung stainless steel light boxes with internal LED lighting.
More important than the technique is the concepts behind Joseph’s work. His work is contemporary and incorporates classic subjects as well as personalities from popular American culture. Depictions of the Simpson’s and Jackie O, and portraits of Agnes Moorehead and Isaac Hayes have been used in his stained glass works. Cavalieri’s “Madonna & Prada” was acquired for the permanent collection at the Museum of Arts and Design in 2013. He was selected to exhibit in the “NYC Makers: The MAD Biennial” at the Museum of Arts and Design in 2014. Joseph’s MTA Arts for Transit public art commission can be viewed at the Philipse Manor Train Station in Westchester, New York. Cavalieri was the keynote speaker at the Glass Society of Ireland and NCAD in 2015.
Joseph has been exhibiting painted, air brushed and silk-screened stained glass since 1997. Cavalieri is a New Yorker, currently based in the East Village of Manhattan. Cavalieri is a member of the Glass Arts Society, American Glass Guild, and the Glass Art Association of Canada.