You can visit our Galerie Kuzebauch from 15th September to 31st October and see the exhibition Visions of One’s Own by Michaela Trávníčková, Marie Sixtová, Kristína Maňáková, Michaela  Kramulová, Irena Czepcová and Petr Stanický.

For more than ten years, the Glass Design (Design skla) studio at the Tomáš Baťa University in Zlín’s Faculty of Multimedia Communications has served as one of the top established centres of its kind in the Czech Republic. Professor Petr Stanický, M.F.A., the head of the department, along with his assistant MgA. Irena Czepcová, offer their students considerable freedom to develop their own personal sense of artistic expression. Students gain inspiration by studying various aspects of their craft, including trying out various conceptual methods in glass making and looking for a way to expand technological possibilities with new media. One notable trait witnessed in these students  is a very specific pioneering approach towards working with glass that differs from traditional established techniques.  All this with a view of making a mark in the ever-developing international glass art scene.

Marie Sixtová – Bond (2019)

Standing before the ostensibly variegated works of four young artists, namely Michaela Kramulová, Kristina Maňáková, Michaela Trávníčková and Marie Sixtová, the question arises as to where to find a common thread. The answer lies in the distinct and peculiar mission of integrating glass in all its applied forms. For these four artists, glass serves as a kind of transparent gateway into the human soul – a world of dreams and emotions.

Michaela Trávníčková – Bubbles (2019)

From 17th June to 31st August you can visit the Kuzebauch Gallery and see the exhibition Light in Sculpture by Čestmír Suška.

The exhibition will be on display in the Lemberk granary from 18th June to 31st October as well.

Oko, 2003

Examining the relationship between the external and the internal and an interplay of light directly within given art objects – such characteristics have been evident in the works of Čestmír Suška since the early 1990s. In subsequent phases of his work Čestmír Suška has continued to promulgate the theme of internal space, with wood-related art in particular opening up a plethora of expressive opportunities.

Bob, 2004

The collection of sculptures exhibited in Galerie Kuzebauch was primarily created in 2002–2006 at Zdeňěk Lhotský’s Pelechov studio. One of the oldest works, titled Maska (Mask), has today become an iconic portrait representation of the author’s honouring of the field of sculpting. Meanwhile, Hvězdice (Starfish), with its baked clay shape, represents an exploration of the contradictions between the full and the empty. Osmička (Eight) represents an interplay between the presently trivial and the mysterious and moves the observer into a symbolic realm of infinity.

You can visit the Kuzebauch Gallery and see the exhibition Everything and Nothing from Václav Řezáč from 15th April to 11th June.

Václav Řezáč (*1977) is one of those with an experience in this mythical land of the Samurai. A graduate of both the High School of Applied Arts and Glassmaking in Železný Brod and the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague (specifically Vladimír Kopecký’s studio), Řezáč worked as a manager of Zdeněk Lhotský’s cast glass studio. Excelling in his own artistic and designer practice, his interests were originally in hot shaped and flat glass. Upon arriving to Toyama in 2016, where he spent the next three years, cast glass sculpture was among the few things that captured his imagination. Even though he previously knew all its technological aspects, his experience in this technique consisted of occasional experiments here and there. All it took was a journey to Japan for him to find his own way of approaching it. There, he learned that the Western tradition of saying all or nothing is not interesting enough, what he excels at is the Eastern tendency to say everything and nothing at the same time.

Řezáč’s works are refined and sophisticated, especially in their technological prowess, they are charming and prove that glass art still allows plenty of room for experimentation. One does not even need to put aside their craft and resign to the today’s obsession for concepts, those that transform glass into a mere material – to be abused rather than used.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to our friends, co-workers and partners from all of
Happy Materials!

The exhibition by Alena Matějka called Cabinet of Curiosities will be in Galerie Kuzebauch from 17th December 2020 to 26th February 2021.

One such artist possessing a gift of storytelling is the sculptor Alena Matějka. After graduating from The Glass Art School in Kamenický Šenov, she studied in the Glass Studio of professor Vladimír Kopecký at the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague, with a two-months internship at the Glasgow School of Art in Scotland. Nowadays, Matějka lives partly in the Vysočina region, as well as alternating between Sweden and Italy. She often collaborates with her husband, the stone sculptor Lars Windenfalk.

Though not working with glass exclusively, it has an irreplaceable position in Matějka’s body of work. What other material would be able to connect the transient with the eternal, freeze time and create a seemingly static cabinet of curiosities, that would tumultuously intertwine reality with fiction, empathy with irony. Alena Matějka’s cast glass sculptures, often in the combination with other elements (such as stuffed animals), unsettle the viewer, providing no comfort and forcing them to interact.

You can see the exhibition Sevenvases from Jiří Pelcl in Galerie Kuzebauch from 1st October to 11th December 2020.

As an established Czech architect, designer and long-term professor at the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague, Pelcl has been interested for a long time in topics on the intersection of sustainability and the seductive forces of consumerism.

Nowadays, environmental issues are part of the golden fund of all intellectual discussion, even amongst artist and designers. These issues became part of mainstream topics, thus lessening their impact, often resulting in mere demonstrations or descriptions of the status quo. Fortunately, there are still those, who can take this topic and transform it without any grand gestures into strong and impressive pieces. Jiří Pelcl (*1950) is among them.

The Sevenvases collection can be understood as a story of rebirth: seven materials, each designated for different applications, repurposed within the universal framework of a vase – like the ancient amphora from the early years of our civilisation. For someone, these can represent seven layers of heavens, seven spheres of the world, seven symbols aspiring towards a perfect harmony; for others, these are “merely” curious interior artefacts. However, Jiří Pelcl was able to revive seven banal, seemingly unattractive and uninteresting materials and give them back a sense of meaning and value. He is able to quietly convey to those interested that design can be more than just a pop-cultural idol.

From 7th August to 25th September you can see an exhibition of František Jungvirt and Barbora Kotěšovcová in Galerie Kuzebauch called Fashion Glass.

The glass artist František Jungvirt (*1996) and fashion designer Barbora Kotěšovcová (*1997), both students of the Academy Arts, Architecture and Desing in Prague (UMPRUM), went a even further in their collection for Galerie Kuzebauch. Not only do they combine glass and textile, they also worked together from the very beginning. The result is a collection of organic creations, evoking previously unknown alien life-forms, or organisms invisible to the human eye living with us unseen for millennia. The aesthetics of individual objects and their use of materials is conceptually and functionally connected, just like on the runway, the body of a model is connected with their clothing, or the way a glass object touches its plinth. Thus, the title Fashion Glass, referencing the environment of fashion shows and art presentations.

Veruschka – Photo by A. Willow

Despite all existing theoretical works, art is still an incomprehensible entity. There is no guaranteed recipe to access it. There is no objective idea of what it does or does not constitute, which is a view that shifts with new generation of critics. František Jungvirt and Barbora Kotěšovcová came up with a concept that is not self-serving. It very articulately shows that there are numerous paths towards the finish line, even though its direction may not be certain at the first sight. In the spirit of the ancient saying – Seek and ye shall find!

Claudia – Photo by A. Willow

From 12th June to 31st July you can see an exhibition of Lada Semecká in Galerie Kuzebauch called Haiku.

For many years, Lada Semecká lived in Japan. It is this experience that formed a crucial aspect of her creative identity, whether it is the power of contemplation, a certain depth of thought or a naturally minimalist expression. Her honesty, humility and modesty, is never contradicting the artistic confidence, but on the contrary, it provides strength and makes her art authentic. For self-reflection, in her case, is truly a knowledge of the self, rather than a mere a show for the audience.

Its Snowing!, 2020

Lada Semecká’s objects evoke Japanese haiku – three short, lyrical phrases that she adores. One can read these poems in mere seconds, or it can take their entire life. Semecká’s art can be viewed in a similar fashion, as lyrical poetry about nature and its relationship to humans. It deals with the experience of the permanent, the fleeting; the fixed and the changing. It asks for an attentive reader. Protagoras is believed to have said in a similar spirit: “Of all things the measure is man, of things that are, that they are, and of things that are not, that they are not.” Thus, for some Lada Semecká’s work pose as aesthetic object, for others they are the bridge between inner and outer worlds that are barely sensed at first, as if perceived through the depths of a lake. It is up to the individual to accept this invitation and dive in.

Petrovice – Church Vistas

Even though the internation trade fair and congress for chemical engineering, environmental protection and biotechnology is taking place next year, the preparations are in full swing since the end of 2019! Achema is going to take place from 14th to 18th June 2021 in Frankfurt am Main, after a three year pause.

If your company is interested in exhibiting on the trade fair, you can find all important information about registration on the official website.

If you would like to come to Achema as a visitor, all the information including exhibitiors, journey and halls can be found on the Achema website in the visitors section.

Looking forward to see you in Frankfurt next year!

Galerie Kuzebauch is closed due to the coronavirus pandemic, so you can visit  the exhibition  by appointment only (from 19th March to 5th June). Should you like to visit us, please contact us via mail or phone (+420 732 160 181). All objects from this exhibition are available at Artsy.net.

Shrimp, 2019

Zuzana Kubelková (born 1987) is among those of her generation of glass artists that has developed an affinity for interspersing black and white colours, as well as contrasting the front and reverse sides of her art objects. Additionally, Kubelková has developed a reputation for experimentation with different materials and techniques, as well as seeking artistic solutions both internal and external. Which means that her natural field of artistic creativity is not three, but rather four-dimensional. Whether melting down fibreglass, conjuring up facial visages wrapped in fibreglass cloth, or combining various materials, Kubelková’s works are guaranteed to be both bold and original. Indeed, Zuzana Kubelková’s interactions with glass undoubtedly go far deeper than a mere summertime romance.

Tremors, 2019