Lucio Bubacco is an italian master artisan specialized in glass sculpture and lampworking art. He was born on the famous island of Murano in 1957. As a boy growing up on this island renowned for its glasswork, Lucio would play with glass, making small animals, beads and other typical lampworked objects. At the prodigious age of 15 he became a qualified glassworker and started to sell his lampwork creations.

In 1980, Bubacco started to study anatomical drawing with Venetian artist Alessandro Rossi, resulting in a change in orientation in his work. From then on figures became vital to his work. He started to push the limits of his craft, challenging established preconceptions. His exclusive freestanding lampworked creations are generated using soft flexible Murano glass rods. Lucio’s works exceed established lampworking norms and traditions. They combine a rich glassworking heritage with the anatomical perfection of Greek and Roman sculptures, whilst integrating Gothic designs found in Venice.

The murano glass Lucio operates to bring life to his glass sculptures is also called “soft glass” because of its malleability, in part due to its elevated soda content. This makes it ideal for lampwork. The sculptures this master artisan creates are built piece-by-piece, melting glass rods and fusing each piece and detail one by one.

In Venice we could admire two glass sculptures made by this talented master, both of them inspired by Greek and Roman mythology. Baccanale is a lampworked vessel in green-yellow shades that presents a fantastic scene. The Bacchanalia were Roman festivals for Bacchus, the Roman good of agriculture, wine and fertility. A faun and a nude female figure seem to dance around a central giant glass in this glass sculpture. This opulent scene places these two central figures around natural elements.

Tritone e Sirena is another lampworked vessel in predominantly blue shades that represents another imaginary scene inspired by mythological stories. Imagery of the sea surrounds two figures: Neptune, the Roman god of the sea, and a mermaid.

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