The Distinctive Surface exhibition features three glass artists from a new generation of students at the Glass Studio of the Faculty of Art and Design in Ústí nad Labem.The authors only recently graduated from the Secondary School of Glassmaking in Kamenický Šenov where they first became acquainted with this fragile and attractive material. Besides advancements in technology at the glass studio in Ústí nad Labem under the direction of Ilja Bílek, the art experience, above all, has become more intense. In addition to their common theoretical and practical background, what connects the artists is their interest in flat glass, with each of them modeling, perforating, and in some cases, almost deforming the glass in their own distinctive ways.
In her creations Kateřina Kobrlová deals with her memories of gymnastics which was – and still is – an essential part of her life. The transformation of a formerly active sportswoman’s life experiences into art has been somewhat therapeutic for her. Kateřina now uses her experience of motion in an artistic environment where she focuses primarily on dynamic composition which she portrays using laser or water jets. Drawing using beams is not descriptive; it renders abstract the movement of the gymnast at a given moment, and uses the translucency of the glass to create shadow effects.
Like Kateřina, Peri has also chosen flat glass as a basic creative medium. After two years, she is slowly but surely moving into a space with her flat images, a space that seems more natural to her. Nonetheless, we cannot consider her paintings to be typical two-dimensional works. Already in her first year she wanted to try a combination of disparate materials, a kind of purity and roughness of glass that she left in raw form. Work with found materials, a certain form of recycling, and the interconnection of hard glass with the fineness of thread, is currently being developed in other installations.
Since the beginning of her studies, the youngest of the exhibitors, Sholpan, has established a distinctive way of painting. She also developed a fondness for flat glass which offers her the possibility of layering, reproduction, transparency or, by contrast, opacity, fragility and hardness. She has been testing out different materials, applying them to the glass, and observing the ways in which the joined fabrics behave. Of the three artists, she has experimented most, with the result that through repetition, testing the limits of the materials and substances used, she has arrived at her ideal compositional arrangement. Sometimes it seems that it is the technical process itself that ultimately determines the final outcome of the piece. And the authors accept this process with humility, but not without thought. They have the material under control, but do not fight it. Their creation is intuitive, emotional and leaves ample space for the audience to find exactly what they long for at any given moment.
Stejně jako Kateřina, i Peri si zvolila tabulové sklo jako základní tvůrčí prostředek. Po dvou letech se pomalu ale jistě dostává s plošnými obrazy do prostoru, který je pro ni, zdá se, přirozenější. Ani její obrazy však nemůžeme považovat za typická dvourozměrná díla. Už v prvním ročníku si chtěla vyzkoušet kombinaci nesourodých materiálů, jakousi čistotu a hrubost skla, které zanechala v surové podobě. Práce s nalezenými materiály, určitý druh recyklace a propojení tvrdého skla s jemností nití v současnosti rozvíjí v dalších instalacích.
Nejmladší z vystavujících Sholpan si od počátku studia našla osobitý způsob malířského vyjádření. Také si oblíbila tabulové sklo, které ji nabízí možnosti vrstvení, množení, transparentnosti nebo naopak neprůhlednosti, křehkosti i tvrdosti. Zkouší různé látky, aplikuje je na sklo a pozoruje, jak se spojení látek chová. Ze všech tří nejvíce experimentuje, aby na základě opakovaného ověřování limitů použitých materiálů a hmot dospěla k pro ni ideálnímu kompozičnímu řešení.
Někdy se zdá, že je to sám proces technického řešení, který nakonec určuje finální podobu díla. A autorky jej pokorně, ne však bezmyšlenkovitě, přijímají. Materiál mají pod kontrolou, ale nebojují s ním. Jejich tvorba je intuitivní, emotivní a nechává zároveň dostatek prostoru divákovi, aby v ní nalezl přesně to, po čem v daný moment touží.
MgA. Dana Zikmundová
kurátorka výstavy
Projekt finančně podpořila MČ Praha 6
