Stanislav Libensky and Jaroslava Brychtova have spent almost fifty years refining the art of casting large sculptures made of delicately colored glass. Their achievements have won them a place among the leading artists working in their medium. The Inner Light gives special prominence to the most recent work of this celebrated team. Libensky and Brychtova have mastered the complex technical and aesthetic demands of glass, using the materialís unique properties to create works on a par with the best of modern sculpture. Their work uses changes in surface treatment, the dynamics of intersecting planes, and the presence of voids within the sculptures to control the way light is held, transmuted, and radiated in the presence of the observer. Robert Kehlmann places their aesthetic in the context of the Czech intellectual and artistic climate that played an important formative role in their development, with particular attention to the influence of Czech cubism. His essay takes a close look at their latest body of work, which utilizes monumental forms to probe issues relating to life, death, and the afterlife.
Two interviews provide further insight into Libensky and Brychtovaís creative process. Kehlmannís conversation with art historian Jiri Setlik, a close friend of the artists, gives a personal perspective on their work. Setlik is vice-director of the Academy of Arts, Architecture, and Design, Prague, and has written extensively about Libensky and Brychtovaís work. A lively interview with the artists themselves provides yet a fuller sense of the collaborative process behind their luminous and mysterious sculptures.
