Kiko Lopez: Smoke and Mirrors

Maison Gerard is pleased to present Kiko Lopez: Smoke and Mirrors, the first solo exhibition of Lopez’s work in New York. One of the few artisans working today in the 18th century technique of hand-silvering, Lopez transforms crystal and glass into timeless, contemporary art. Smoke and Mirrors will be on view October 12 – November 15, 2022. 

Educated as an architect and industrial designer, Kiko Lopez is a special kind of glass artist: one who weds an artist’s sensibilities with the hard-learned talents of a craftsman. While steeped in tradition, his work is also influenced by abstract giants such as Sean Scully, Mark Rothko, and the Korean minimalist Yun Hyong-keun. For the last twelve years he has focused on fabricating tableau mirrors—or what he calls “shadow drawings”—manipulating applications of watery, silver mixtures of glass to create reflective surfaces rich with gradations of shadow, color, and patina-like impressions. He often treats the patina with coffee or cigarette ash, touches that imbue his work with a feeling unique and completely modern. 

The exhibition features some of Lopez's largest works to date, including a mosaic screen inspired in part by Le Corbusier’s Unite d’Habitation housing in Marseille, his “Oracle” series of mirrored concave disks with distorted reflections, and Les 100, a large square mirror composed of 100 fragments of interlocking rectangles of perfectly fit blue glass—a piece which exemplifies Lopez’s mastery of near-forgotten practices to create singular, modern pieces.

About Kiko Lopez

Kiko Lopez was born in 1962 in Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico, and grew up in Miami, Florida. He developed a mastery in ceramics at an early age, establishing his first atelier at fourteen. Lopez attended the University of Miami where he studied architecture under Liz Plater-Zyberk, and won the distinguished “Best Designer” award in his freshman year. After graduating he moved to New York briefly, working for Robert A.M. Stern, before returning to school, this time to RISD, for more study of architecture and industrial design. Since establishing his studio, Lopez has produced furniture, objects, lights, and architectural elements (glass walls, screens, doors, and candlesticks), but has come to specialize in the design, manufacture, and installation of monumental works combining glass, crystal, and light. Lopez has completed major commissions for the Cristalerie St. Louis, Le Musée de l'Homme, and Les Quatres Temps of La Défense, for prominent decorators, such as Alberto Pinto, Chahan Minassian, and Caroline Sarkozy, and for numerous private clients throughout Europe and the Americas.