Glass Artist Overview
Short introduction to the world of Czech fine art glass sculpture
Since the early middle ages Bohema belonged to the glass making countries. The excellent quality of the material, the individual and artistic processing were the trade marks of the Bohemian glass artists. During the second half of the Fifties, Czech artists detected the capability of glass for expression initiating the origin of the glass sculpture. Since this time the material glass has succeeded as a new art direction, whereby today the Czech glass artists undoubtably belong to the wolrdwide top of this art. The success has its origins in the long tradition as well as in the outstanding and unique ten-year lasting education, which consists in most cases of the studies at one of the glass schools and the subsequent studies at the Prague Academy Of Applied Arts. This comprehensive education implies the perfect skill as well the artistic realization.
Jan Fišar completed a classic sculptural education; this can still be clearly seen in his glass objects. A part of his sculptures consisted of complicated compositions of slumped, sunken and cut hollow glass, a technique being unique in the world.
After his initial cast glass objects which showed traces of hand shaping, this artist is meanwhile creating very accurate and well-defined glass sculptures. The design of Vašíček’s large objects is often geometric with polished surfaces with a rich variety of shapes and textures.
Andrej Jančovič primarily uses geometric morphology, typically derived from a square surface or cube volume. By using optical glass and colored glass, he creates optical dynamic in fixed static geometric forms, depending on observer´s viewpoint.
Jan Fišar completed a classic sculptural education; this can still be clearly seen in his glass objects. A part of his sculptures consisted of complicated compositions of slumped, sunken and cut hollow glass, a technique being unique in the world. With his work he expressed strong philosophical messages.
Josef Marek uses the tension within the objects for his artistic meaning. His main focus therefore is on the inner space and he uses the structure and hollow spaces within the object to let it come to life. His philosophy has been formed by his long stay as a professor at Toyama Institute of Glass Art in Japan.
Eva Vlčková combines the austere architectural form with smooth, round shapes, and thereby achieves a special tension. The translucent reflections that softly shine through the surface additionally shape the inside of the objects soften the severe architecture and give the object soft, feminine contours.
Peter Mandl has devoted his life to sculptures. Through a form and melding technique, which has made him a name within the sculpting arena, he captures fleeting moments in solid forms of glass and bronze, rendering the spectator both curious and calm at the very same time, telling a story, feeding the mind and caressing the soul.
The artist’s education as a classical sculptor becomes apparent in his work. For him glass is an equivalent material that he uses together with other sculptural materials, such as bronze, metal or stone etc., thereby taking advantage of the transparency and the reflection of glass for his artistic expression.
Eva Vlčková combines the austere architectural form with smooth, round shapes, and thereby achieves a special tension. The translucent reflections that softly shine through the surface additionally shape the inside of the objects soften the severe architecture and give the object soft, feminine contours.
Štěpán Pala’s artistic thinking has a universal timeless dimension: it is abstract and reveals the visual character and significance of mathematics and geometry. Space is the central theme of his work, and within this parameter he exploits the concepts, such as infinity, multiplication, division, curvature, and changes in inner structures.
Jan Exnar combines the sculptured form with a perfectly cut surface. To shape the forms he makes use of the transparency of the glass and its strong colors. The effects of the light on the cast and cut forms of his glass objects transform them into fascinating, permanently changing monumental sculptures.
The artist Petra Hřebačková, daughter of Tomáš Hlavička and the granddaughter of the internationally renowned Czech glass artist Pavel Hlava, studied at the Prague Academy of Art, Architecture and Design, Glass and Ceramics. Her abstract glass objects are full of colour that are inspired by nature.
Before Hlavička applied himself to glass art, he completed architectural studies. With his sculptures made from fused glass and metal, the glass artist brings simple shapes to life, creating microcosmic worlds of colour and texture that constantly change depending on the light source and angle.
Vladimira Klumpar completes her studies at the renowned Academy of Applied Arts in Prague under the tutorship of renowned artist Professor Stanislav Libensky. Klumpar is the recipient of a Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant. Her work has been widely exhibited in Europe and the Americas.
The artist lived for much of his life in the United States, Mexico and Portugal before returning to his home country. He was artistically inspired by the various cultures. Thus, for example, the time that he spent in Mexico influenced not only his aesthetic style but also his understanding of the importance of colours.
Jiří Suchý’s glass objects, which are melted in moulds in the kiln, follow classical Czech glass sculpture in their design language. In his compositions he works with displacements of geometric objects, layering and blending them. By contrast, his paintings, which he creates using hot glass are expressive/abstract.
The principal theme of Marian Volráb is always the human being with its traces and imprints that are hidden within the world’s labyrinth. He find inspiration in the forms that were created by nature itself and through its unlimited possibilities and works radically on the glass surface by using big grinding stones.
The artist works with simple geometrical shapes, reflections and optical illusions using cut and polished glass surfaces. His well thought-out and perfect cut reflects light, creating contours and geometric shapes within the sculpture, in this way he is able to capture the nature of glass using his primary attributes.
Marek Brincko is fascinated by different themes. His Organica Collection integrates the mesh of honeycomb in his sculptures. With its vivid colours, Uranica represents the accumulation of energy in different forms. The Orks series reflects the magic of medieval elements with Gothic arches, pillars and elements.
The artist works with glass and metal, using the fragility of glass in his works as a counterpoint to the roughness of the metal. He employs the reflections and their repetitions caused by the transparency of the glass inside and outside the object to generate changing spatial tension depending on the angle.
The work of Jiří Karel focuses on the use of floated optical glass slabs hot-welded in compact blocks that he sculpts and tirelessly polishes until the end composition. Often he uses also firing materials on the glass plates for painting graphic patterns inside and outside of his sculptures.
The artist Alena Matĕjka is constantly searching for new methods in glass art. She likes to combine glass with other materials and creates her sculptures in glass as well as in stone and organic materials. She is one of only few artists which take on the challenge of huge glass installations.
The artist works as a sculptor and is considered one of those who have renewed figurative expression in the Nordic sculpture. He works with many materials. He is married to the Czech artist Alena Matĕjka who introduced him to the crystal glass, a material he often uses in combination with stone.
Malvina started to use glass in her work as an established artist whose paintings were in collection of the State Gallery of Cyprus. Her artistic methodology includes patterns, colors, strong expression, and perfectly balanced compositions. She uses glass like blank canvas which she then covers with colored light.
Lukáš Mjartan finds inspiration in architectural forms and converts them into high-contrast, rigid geometric works with structural and sometimes even rough gestural elements. Light and the variation in the thickness of the glass mass play with the intensity of the each of the colours that he selects for his work.
Ivana Mašitová has been creating glass art since 1988. The artist creates contemporary colorful crystal glass sculptures using kiln cast glass technique. She gets inspiration mainly from nature, by visiting foreign countries, hiking on her own searching for beautiful no tourist spots.
The artist Petr Stacho studied at the Academy of Applied Arts in Prague under the world-famous glass artist, painter and teacher Vladimír Kopecký. His artistic career was also materially influenced by a sabbatical at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Ghent (Belgium), where he attended the Atelier of Monumental Painting.
Ilja Bílek is a matured artist, who evaluates his life, artistic and educational experiences in his work. For his technically complicated glass objects, consisting of perfectly cut and glued parts, this artist takes entirely advantage of the properties of the material glass: its transparency and its optical reflection.
His geometric sculptures resemble mysterious, communicative signs and seem as though one could communicate by them with alien civilizations. These signs develop on the objects’ surfaces through the interplay of light and shade, or they develop as a result of the object’s construction itself.
The artistic couple studied from 1993-1999 at the University of Applied Arts in Prague. Ingrid Račková studied at the Glass Studio of Prof. Vladimír Kopecký and David Suchopárek at the Glass in Architecture Studio of Prof. Marian Karel. After their studies they founded the IRDS studio in 2001.
