INTERVIEW WITH VLASTIMIL BERÁNEK
What was your first glass sculpture?
The very first sculpture I designed was at the university as a student at the glass studio headed by Professor Stanislav Libensky. I gained invaluable experience in producing his pieces and had the chance to model my own designs. I loved him as he was a free-spirited person and that was contagious. He showed me how to see the world with different eyes.
how did Aqua One come into being?
I have to confess I am not fond of explaining the original idea for a particular sculpture. Of all the great sculptures throughout history, I like those which have managed to keep their stories a secret. I move freely in abstract space, slightly guiding the beholder to allow him or her to explore their fantasies. Statues are living entities, communicative, telling Stories. Don’t expect simple answers to the fundamental question: “What is it?” Statues tell stories in a language you do not need to learn. All you need is an open mind to understand. The reflection of your own emotions while viewing the statue, your thoughts, sensibility and fantasy, will create a completely new inner perception. We interpret the outside world in our own unique way and as Aqua One has a special place in my Heart as it tells a story of a dreamer´s message of life; that harmony that can be achieved under diverse circumstances, the ever-present condition of balance everywhere. Forces interact in absolute harmony, like the case of the rope walker and the rope he is on. Or a group of people sitting around a fire pit with each having different social values yet interacting harmoniously. Harmony provokes and challenges itself to be expressed in a concrete way. Very often I work with elementary shapes like a sphere, even an imaginary one. The principle of equal distances of all points on its surface towards the center works perfectly making the sphere a balanced shape of harmony.
Life is not that straightforward and simple. It fights for balance in all directions like a roller coaster travelling along a cyclic trajectory. The Aqua One trajectory flows along the surface of the sphere, slightly arched, winding down the curves of the four circles, only to return to the starting point. The flow is safe, until the slanting slopes fall dangerously down into the sphere inner center-point. The void inner core represents emptiness. You do not want to fall down there! It was this process of thinking about balance and harmony that resulted In a complex symmetrical shape. Balanced by nature, the four identical parts are united in a unique whole. The central line along the surface of the object allows the object to stand at any point on this line without falling. It is in the center of gravity. The center of harmony that gives us hope and optimism. It is a dreamer´s message of life that harmony can be achieved no matter what.
how did the enormous 243 kg Venus come into existence? And how did it feel when you opened the furnace and found it was not cracked?
Although heavier simple glass pieces exist, Venus with its complex space. Arrangement was indeed a unique achievement. It is with great joy that you watch as you correctly melt such a complicated shape in such a size!
What is the story of the Ballet-dancer?
The Ballet-dancer passionately dances in a whirlwind, tiptoeing, hardly touching the floor leaving the movement in your mind long after it is done.
Lately you have been using wood and bronze in addition to glass. What made you start to use these materials?
I have actually been working with wood for a long time to produce models and later I used wood as a traditional and noble sculpting material. Bronze is always tempting as it is the classic material of sculptors. I regard wood, along with stone, to be the archetypal material legacy of our ancestors. It is encouraging to know that our relationship with the traditional materials is still strong.
how about stone - you have worked with it in the past, are you coming back to it?
My relationship with stone is intimate, similar as it to glass. Glass and stone are similar in many ways. They are friends. Stone is fragile, with varying degrees of hardness; it is defiant and headstrong like glass. Glass is actually re-melted silica that does not want to be glass, it wants to remain silica. It is forced to be glass. It is an artificial condition and has a whole range of unique characteristics. Stone, on the other hand, possesses a strong inner-energy. Consider, for example, a pebble on the palm of your hand; how much the ocean has toiled on it and now it contains that energy inside it forever. It is similar for every stone. There was always an energy preceding it, regardless of whether the stone is commonplace or precious. Its energy-packed story is hidden somewhere inside and bringing it out to light amounts to a miracle.
Recently you and the Marmor Hotavlje stonema-sonscreated a statue in carrara white marble, weighing more than 100 kg. What does it look like?
The Carrara marble is a noble, dream material with great cultural and historical connotations. It possesses character and is mysterious. I do not know any creator who would resist having his or her work created in such a material and I am no exception. The statue mentioned is named The Breaking Point, it is a mavellous piece of marble that is simply mesmerizing.
And what will your other sculptures of pink marble and ivory onyx be like?
Material diversity is always welcome. Different material bring varied inspiration tastes, new possibilities which are inspired by colour, texture or semi-translucence properties. I hope that these characteristics will enrich future sculptures with new qualities.
Boulle Luxury has covered your statue Venus in 50 million tiny diamonds. What do you have to say about that?
Boulle Luxury and I share unique creative visions. Our cooperation resulted in covering the Venus in diamonds; it is awesome and symbolic. Venus – a woman in diamond apparel! That sounds great doesn’t it? Is she the shy beauty - a mysterious planet of our Solar system- by Sandro Botticelli, or a woman of your heart? The choice is yours.
What inspires you?
Diversity, fundamental questions, nature’s processes and phenomena, man, enthusiasm for the little everyday things. Everything that lies behind the horizon of imagination is extremely interesting to me.
how would you best characterize yourself using your own words?
An optimist, yet always believing that something will go wrong !
What do you think makes your art unique?
I am positively convinced that having the opportunity to interpret one’s own thoughts is one of the highest manifestations of personal freedom. The very fact that I can do just that and enjoy it is uniqueness itself. Lately I have been increasingly inclined to use larger, bulkier formats and more generalized shapes. This is what my sculptures have in common and as I work with glass, it inevitably leads me to push the limits.
What charges you with energy in life, what motivates you?
My lovely wife Jana, the one closest to me.
Where do you see the future of sculpture?
The term sculpture is too broad for anyone to be able to forecast its exact future course. Personally, I wish for a return to communicating honest messages, void of servitude and popularity courting. Diverse, original, timeless and disciplined sculpture is good enough. It lies in forming crystal-clear thoughts, strong views and grand visions.