Josef Marek
"Eye of the Mountain" cast glass sculpture
2022

Name: "Eye of the Mountain" cast glass sculpture
Brand: Josef Marek
Price: 7900 USD
Availability: InStock

About the Item

Scroll through the images to watch a short video of the sculpture! This luminous turquoise glass sculpture by Czech artist Josef Marek evokes natural ice formations with the rich texturing contrasting the smooth, polished surfaces. Josef Marek's abstract glass sculptures showcase his extensive training in re-melting glass in molds, glass cutting, and polishing. Some surfaces are polished and smooth, while others are highly textured using a glue-chipping, or tarnishing, technique. Dangerously thin and transparent edges play against solid geometric forms, and sometimes tiny bubbles from the casting process are visible throughout - especially along the edges - as if the glass is still moving inside. Josef Marek is a glass artist based in North Bohemia in the Czech Republic. He studied glass-making at the Secondary School of Applied Arts in Kamenicky Senov in the former Czechoslovakia from 1978-1982, and after graduating, he became a glass cutter at Crystalex and worked as a teacher in the local technical school. After the "Velvet Revolution" of 1989 admission to school was no longer decided based on political views but on the merits for creative work, and Marek was accepted at the University of Fine Arts and Architecture. After completing graduate studies under Czech glass masters Vladimir Kopecky and Marian Karel, Marek worked as a visiting professor in Japan's Toyama Glass Institute. He continued with the interest in his earlier work that focused on re-melting glass in molds, cutting, polishing, and combining glass with stone. A new technique for him was working with polished stainless steel and copper plates, which he combined with glass. Since returning to the Czech Republic, Marek has created more compelling and visually stimulating works influenced from the culture of the land of the rising sun. He often combines glass with contrasting materials, creating an illusionary space consisting of transparent and opaque masses, maximizing contrasts that captivate the viewer. However, his work is dominated by sculptures made only of glass, where he seeks maximum simplicity but enriches the work with details on the surface and inside the mass. He also uses glass techniques such as structural etching and the almost forgotten glue-chipping surface, or tarnishing. Marek has participated in many group exhibitions in Europe and overseas. He has had seven solo exhibitions in Japan, as well as exhibitions in Paris, Sweden, The Netherlands, and Germany.

Creator:

Josef Marek (1963, Czech)

Creation Year:

2022

Dimensions:

Height: 17.75 in (45.09 cm)Width: 20.5 in (52.07 cm)Depth: 3.5 in (8.89 cm)

Medium:

Glass

Movement & Style:

Contemporary

Period:

2010-