“I reduce what has been around for ever, I seek the essence of shape …“
Martin Hlubuček (*1974) is a graduate of the Secondary School of Glass Arts in Železný Brod, the Institute of Visual Culture of Jan Evangelista Purkyně University in Ústí nad Labem (glass studio, prof. Ilja Bílek) and the Faculty of Fine Arts in Brno (figurative sculpture studio, prof. Michal Gabriel). His precision, attention to detail, minimalist approach and use of universal geometric shapes are characteristic. Whether they are fused sculptures or blown glass, there is always a sense of order, even an ancient harmony of spheres. His works are included in many public and private collections. Hlubuček’s fused sculptures and blown shapes are verses of a single mantra about form – unadorned, expressively spare, rhythmically precise and aesthetically impressive. Martin Hlubuček’s glass works are miles away from the decorativeness and artistic self-centredness that is often invoked and appreciated again today (as it is otherwise in the post-decadence period). They are eloquent proof of the thesis that healthy “self-consciousness” has nothing to do with stale art “self-consciousness”. Everything is certainly allowed in art, but – postmodern invocators will forgive – not in glass. It is a material with a soul, requiring the empathy and humility of the artist; it is a matter with which it is necessary to have a dialogue. And Martin Hlubuček knows this perfectly. Whatever colour or shape he chooses for his work, he never goes “against the grain” of glass. His works are perfectly told stories about the relationship between man and matter.