michele burato

Michele Burato biography – L’ISOLA – The Carlo Moretti showroom in Venice
MICHELE BURATO
As a glass-historian-turned-glass-artist, one might expect Michele Burato’s works to closely follow
the style and methods of the 19th and 20th century Murano masters he so diligently studied. While
regularly incorporating traditional mosaic techniques Burato’s results are entirely unconventional.
Burato first experimented with fusing glass pieces in 1988. Just ten years later he had his first
exhibition in Venice. Intent on combining many colours within one piece, Burato was forced to
contend with compatibility issues and the varying expansion rates of the different colours of glass.
The technical limitations of the Venetian glass he was using too often limited his range of colour
combinations. In 2000, Burato made the very unconventional, and likely difficult, choice to
abandon Venetian materials for a more versatile American product made by the Oregon based
Bullseye Glass Co. From that time on he was free to explore the bold and original colour
combinations for which he is now so well known. Thin layers of glass evoke a painterly character in
multihued brush strokes. His opaque color blends are reminiscent of precious stone, or in more
audacious examples, carpets and tapestries.
Attilia Dorigato, Managing Director of Museo del Vetro, Murano, has written: “(Burato) ignores the
traditional concept that glass must have some kind of function as well as a decorative role – as a
vase, a drinking vessel, a bowl – and allows the artistic creation to establish its own relationship
with the material. He treats glass almost as if it were semi-precious stones and exploits its fugitive
transparency, its sudden brilliance, its liquid effects, its specks of gold and silver, its superimposed
grids that spread out like cobwebs of labyrinthine intricacy.”
Born in Venice in 1957, Michele Burato first approached the legendary Italian Glass industry as
collector and a dealer. From 1980 to 1995 he cultivated an international reputation as an expert in
the field of nineteenth and twentieth-century Italian glass. In 1988, Burato considered this material
from a new angle, fusing slices of vintage canes he had acquired from various Murano furnaces.
Burato used a small household kiln to create flat glass panels embedded with vintage murrine and
eventually adapted these methods to three-dimensional forms. At Anfora Furnace, he found the
progressive environment he required to experiment with methods and materials outside firmly
rooted Venetian customs. While thoroughly acquainted with tradition, Michele Burato refuses to be
limited by it. His works invest new life in an ancient industry.
Burato’s works are represented in the Museo Vetrario di Murano in Venice, and the Corning
Museum of Glass in Corning, NY, USA.
Exhibitions / Catalogues:
Glass Stripes, Rossella Junck Gallery, Venice, Italy, 1998.
Burato Poilprez Zilio, Rossella Junck Gallery, Venice, Italy, 1999.
Vitraria, Rossella Junck Gallery, San Vito al Tagliamento, Italy, 1999.
Artisti in Murano, Neiman Markus, San Francisco, USA, 1999.
50 Artisti per Bambini dell’Ultimo Mondo, Ateneo San Basso, Piazza San Marco, Venice, February
1999.
Venetian Summer, Gallery Splinter, Berlin, 2000.
Francia-Italia: Artisti del Vetro a Confronto, Rocca Borromeo, Angera, Italy, 2000.
True Colours, Rossella Junck Gallery, Venice, Italy, 2000.
L'ISOLA srl - SHOWROOM & HEAD OFFICE - San Marco 1468 - Campo San Moisè - 30124 Venice, Italy
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Michele Burato biography – L’ISOLA – The Carlo Moretti showroom in Venice
Glassway, Museo Archeologico, Aosta, Italy, 2002.
Italian Glass, Wexler Gallery, Philadelphia, USA, 2002.
Sofa, Rossella Junck Gallery, Chicago, USA., 2002.
Italian Glass, Wexler Gallery, Philadelphia, USA, 2002.
Sofa, Barry Friedman Gallery, New York, USA, 2003.
Venezia Vetro, Rossella Junck Gallery, Venice, Italy, 2003.
Fragile, Laboratorio Anfora, Chiesa di San Samuele, Venice, Italy, 2003.
Vetri. Nel mondo. Oggi., Esposizione Internazionale d’Arte, Istituto Veneto di Scienze Lettere ed
Arti, Palazzo Cavalli Franchetti, Venice, Italy, 2004.
Venezia-Torino Solo Andata, Galleria Tendentse, Torino, 2004.
Vitraria, San Vito al Tagliamento, Italy, 2005.
Vento, Caffè Florian, Venice, Italy, 2006.
Opere, Scaletta di Vetro, Milano, Italy, 2007.
Vetro d’Artista, Palazzo dei Congressi a Madonna di Campiglio, Italy, 2007.
Vitraria, Italian Ways in Contemporany Craft, Chenongju International Craft Biennale, Corea,
2007.
Fare Vetro, Museo del Vetro, Musei Civici Veneziani, Murano, Italy, 2008.
Condivisioni, Centro di Ricerca d’Arte Contemporanea, Venice, Italy, 2009.
Senza Pensieri, Mostra Internazionale d’Arte Contemporanea, Villa Contarini dei Leoni, Mira,
Italy, 2009.
Workshops:
Artisti Fuori Luogo, Accademy of the Arts, Venice, Italy, March 2003.
Editorials:
Michele Burato, Pitture di Sabbia e di Fuoco, Alessandra Redaelli, Arte Mondadori, December
1999
Il Soffio dei Nuovi Alchimisti, Manuela Ravasio, Dove, May 2000.
What’s New at the Lagoon? New glass, Helena Horn, Spring 2002.
Fragili Arcobaleni, AD./Antiques, Franco Deboni, March 2002.
Design Dream, Casa Vogue, Rosa Barovier Mentasti, December 2002.
In un Soffio, Trieste Contemporanea, Attilia Dorigato, December 2002.
Venetian Glass Reborn, Financial Times, Rachel Spence, June 2003.
Solo (x) 4, The New York Times, Sunday, Art, September 2003.
Four Solo Exhibitions, Wood & Glass, Antiques and The Arts Weekly, September 2003.
Solo (x) 4 The year in review, The Art Newspaper, 2003.
Solo (x) 4 Art + Auction, October 2003.
Solo (x) 4 Glass, 2003.
Solo (x) 4 American Craft, October/November 2003.
Venezia, il Vetro Moderno fa Vetrina, Il Solo-24 Ore Nordest, Friday 12 November 2004.
Il Palazzo di Cristallo, Vernissage, il Foto Giornale dell’Arte, November 2004.
Evento, Torino Arte & Antiquariato, 24 November 2004.
Venezia-Torino Solo Andata, La Stampa,15 Dicember 2004.
Nella Città dell’Acqua gli Artisti della Trasparenza, Gavina Ciusa, 50&Più, March 2005.
Il Vetro si fa Languido, ma con Ironia, Alessandra Artale, Nuova Venezia, 12 April 2006.
Michele Burato - Opere in Vetro al Florian, Arte. Go, April 2006.
L’en Verre du Décor, Pierre Lèonfortè, L’Express, 27 April 2006
L'ISOLA srl - SHOWROOM & HEAD OFFICE - San Marco 1468 - Campo San Moisè - 30124 Venice, Italy
tel +39 041 523 1973 - fax +39 041 522 3118 - e-mail [email protected] - http: //www.lisola.com
Michele Burato biography – L’ISOLA – The Carlo Moretti showroom in Venice
Florian, Vertri Dipinti di Michele Burato, Enzo Di Martino, Il Gazzettino, 10 May 2006.
Dipinti, Sculture e Installazioni, il Museo del Caffè Florian, Samuele Costantini, Corriere del
Veneto, Saturday 10 March 2007.
Vetro d’Artista, L’Eco delle Dolomiti, June 2007.
Fare Vetro Murano, Museo del Vetro, 29 May 2008.
Book references:
L’Arte del Vetro a Murano, Attilia Dorigato, Arsenale Editrice, 2002.
Glassway, Le Stanze del Vetro, Regione Autonoma Valle d’Aosta, Skira Editrice, 2002.
Vetri. Nel mondo. Oggi., Esposizione Internazionale d’Arte, IstitutoVeneto di Scienze, Lettere ed
Arti, edited by Rosa Barovier Mentasti, Cierre Edizioni, 2004.
Museo del Vetro, Attilia Dorigato Marsílio, Musei Civici Veneziani, July 2006.
Guida Completa all’Isola di Murano, Michela Scibilia / Nicolò Scibilia, January 2007.
L'ISOLA srl - SHOWROOM & HEAD OFFICE - San Marco 1468 - Campo San Moisè - 30124 Venice, Italy
tel +39 041 523 1973 - fax +39 041 522 3118 - e-mail [email protected] - http: //www.lisola.com