To create this work, Lino formed a bubble of clear glass on the end of a blowpipe. He then rolled the bubble through a set of white canes that were laid out on a hotplate, picking them up onto the bubble. Next, Lino and an assistant twisted the bubble and canes from both ends, creating the diagonal arrangement that you see here. Finally, a gather of translucent blue glass was added around the entire work. Once the work was completely annealed, Lino carved away the blue glass in some areas of the work, creating "cutouts", and then polished the work.

The result of all of this work is amazing... a really nice combination of cobalt blue, clear, and white glass. The way this work catches the light is really cool, and it casts a shadow that contains incredible intricacy, depending on the angle of the light. Lino is arguably the finest glassblower in the world today, and this work demonstrates his considerable skill.

Here's a paraphrase of Lino's comments about this work:

The form is very sexual. It has that type of energy and rhythm. This piece is the male, while the Donna Senza Libertà is the female. The clear lines (the cut area that looks clear) follow Matisse in their form (i.e., Matisse's line, but also Matisse's late "cutout" drawings and paintings which were made by cutting out paper). Chasing is this energy—the sexual male who is after the female, but it is also about the interplay of the caning and the cutouts.

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