Hydrochrom

July 28 - November 19, 2021

Twentieth Exhibitions is proud to present the début of Hydrochrom, a family of glass sculptures by LA-based artist and designer Sébastien Léon. Hydrochrom, stemming from the Greek expression for “The color of water” consists of tabletop sculptures, lighting, and sound sculptures.

Léon first explored blown glass in 2019 when he released Geochrom, a capsule collection of lighting shown at Design Miami in collaboration with the world’s largest gemstone mining company, Gemfields.

Léon’s idiosyncratic multi-disciplinary work - painting, music, design - results from an inspired melange of chaos and logic. In the case of Hydrochrom, Leon brought his vision to life by creating freely assembled clusters composed of a synthesis of different sized glass cubes.

Some of these assemblages are then transformed into tabletop and suspension lighting, through the use of custom lightsaber shaped LED fixtures piercing through the core of the glass, revealing their ocean-like texture. Without the lighting component, others act as pure glass sculptures. Finally, some are transformed into sound sculptures, playing an original ambient oceanic soundtrack, allowing the glass to be translated into a sonic medium.

Between the blue bubbly glass texture and the naming of the pieces after different seas, Hydrochrom is an ode to the ocean.

Sébastien Léon is a French Los Angeles-based artist and designer who has worked internationally for numerous brands such as Audemars Piguet, Krug, Audi, and Samsung. He has shown his sound sculptures at the Palais de Tokyo (Paris), the Park Avenue Armory (New York), the New Museum (New York), the Palazzo della Triennale (Milan), and UCCA (Beijing).