Čestmír Suška

A review of the exhibition on Material Times

Čestmír Suška (*1952) became widely known especially for his large-scale, carved steel sculptures. From a distance, these attract the viewer with flickering flashes of light shining through the cut-outs. As the viewer comes closer, he or she can become fully immersed in the play of light and shadow as the sun’s rays stream through the openings in the ornamental patterns. This principle of letting light into the interior of the sculpture has accompanied Čestmír Suška almost throughout his work and has become a significant element of his work.

In the course of his work, Čestmír Suška went through several creative periods, when he always delved deeper into a different material, be it wood, clay, steel, stone or glass. He has always tried to work humbly with their raw form and to find the intersection between each material and his principles. This has resulted in several sculptures that, while sharing the same form, by using a different material medium each sculpture has taken on a completely different interpretation of Sushko’s principles.