Nassar’s newest hand-flamed glass bead sculptural works represent a deepening of his engagement with the medium. While Nassar’s early glass works drew upon the specific forms of traditional decorative items...
Nassar’s newest hand-flamed glass bead sculptural works represent a deepening of his engagement with the medium. While Nassar’s early glass works drew upon the specific forms of traditional decorative items from Hebron, these new works are freer and more experimental. Nassar relies on intuition to give form to the patterns and plays of color that he builds; working not within the grid structure of the stitch, but rather a honeycomb of wired beads woven around a steel frame. This difference allows him to explore the possibilities of building an invented cannon of decorative motifs.
Nassar harnesses the diagonal nature of the glass medium’s framework to dramatic effect in "The River Behind", 2022, creating a thick chevron of richly-colored opaque blues and greens that are interspersed with thin rows of translucent rosy pink glass beads, using an invented decorative motif. This palette is rearticulated in the imaginative landscape hinged to its right. Works are hinged into multipanels, the steel joinery connecting them are modeled on gate hinges seen around New York City. For Nassar, this specificity allows him to locate the sculptures where he lives and works, as well as in the diasporic Palestine of his imagination.