CRYSTAL CREATIVE: Word, structure, light 7. 6.– 4. 7. 2024
The Praguekabinet will present, for the first time, a solo exhibition by the glass artist duo MgA. Filip Dobiás (*1990), who graduated from the glass studio of Prof. Rony Plesl at Prague’s UMPRUM, and his colleague, master glass cutter David Gábera (*1976). Their glass works will also be complemented by the original work of textile artist Jan Timotej Strýček (1949–2023) with two large-format tapestries. All of the exhibiting artists are united by their love for art and honest craftsmanship as well as by the region where they work and live.
Six years ago, David and Filip set up a glass studio together in the picturesque landscape of Moravian Wallachia, where their glass objects are created under the Crystal Creative brand. Their work is well-known in the area where they work as well as throughout the contemporary glass scene in the Czech Republic and abroad.
An imaginative approach to grinding, clean lines, and rhythmically repeating patterns are characteristics of their style. They often leave the surface of the glass with a frosted finish, giving their objects an additional dimension. We somehow sense that each work has long since ceased to serve its original function; the vase or bowl is no longer a mere utilitarian object and interior accessory. It has become a peculiar sculptural work that speaks to its viewer in a new and novel language of artistic expression. Inspiration is drawn from sacred architecture and structures based on natural forms, but also from the most ordinary things such as furrows in fields and the changing landscape under the hand of humankind.
Technologically speaking, the glassmaking duo primarily uses the same methods to process raw glass materials that were used earlier in the Baroque period and which made Czech (Bohemian) glass world-renowned. Their work is based solely on handmade glass and superb craftsmanship.
It was the search for timeless design and the desire to push the boundaries of glass material to a new level that initially brought artist Filip Dobiás and master cutter David Gábera together on their journey.
As one of the authors himself says:
“In essence, nothing has changed in the production of handmade glass for several centuries, but the form is completely different. Whereas glass used to be seen only as a utilitarian item or a display of prestige and social status, today the situation is completely different. The items we own are now meant to tell stories, and the observer is supposed to suspect that there is something deeper behind the scenes. We long to imprint our glass with a soul. Sometimes this reflects landscapes or places that surround us, but it also reflects the fragility of relationships, the endless search for beauty and ideal proportions. It is a kind of battle with glass and the very elements that co-create it – the fire in the melting of the raw material, air through the glassblower's blowpipe, the water that drifts the grinding grains, or the earth which has given us the basic raw material for glass as sandstone rocks and grains of sand or even as the sediment of ancient seas. I would like all this to be evident in our objects”.
The artists have created a new collection of glass objects exclusively for the exhibition – these will also be presented at Maison & Objet in Paris after their premiere at the Praguekabinet.
