OBJECTS OF DESIRE BY SIN FEAT RONY PLESL

Profoundly fragile, yet highly durable. At times naturally transparent, then opaque or letting just parts of the world permeate through. With an ability to mirror reality and distort it naturally. It is beautiful, yet merciless. History of glass reaches as far back as antiquity, with glass keeping us company ever since. It borne out of the mesmerizing process that combines tradition of craft, technological innovation and the laws of nature. Glass is part of our everyday lives – it is used in industry, architecture, design and healthcare, as well as in contemporary visual art.

Objects of Desire by SIN feat. Rony Plesl is a compelling selection from the extensive SIN portfolio, employing a unique Vitrum Vivum technology – a groundbreaking method of cast glass presented as glass sculptures somewhere on the fluid border between free art and design. The project presents, but also moves forward traditional glassmaking methods, accentuating original programmes. It offers a visual spectacle along with a diverse spectrum of themes – from the reflection of archetypal forms, pop culture phenomena, sacred symbolism or organic structures, to visual reductions and experimentation with formal properties of glass.

Glass is a natural and long-used medium for some of the selected artists, while for others it is an novelty – new means of expression they use for the first time. In some cases, we see the unique programme being transformed into a new material, while retaining its essence and simultaneously acquiring new layers of meaning. For others, working with glass represents a technological change and an impulse to new ideological and visual actualisations enabled by the material.

The exhibition is conceived as a walk through a calm, yet dynamic scenery, that gives rise to colourful microworlds, forming visual and narrative layers of the exhibition. We find ourselves in a space where reality and fiction intertwine, with individual works outlining fragments of permeable narratives. Abstracting and minimalist forms are mixed with appropriations of reality, creating an experience of movement between that which is familiar and the difficult to grasp.

Apparent inspirations and fascinations with nature (Kovářík, Plesl, Ondrash & Kašpárek) meet reinterpretations of pop culture icons (Pasta Oner), figurative compositions and updates of traditional mythology (Štipl, Skavova), opening up to further shifts in meaning in the new material context. Last but not least, there is an intersection between design and free art – an object with function and the artefact with open meaning (Levy, Plesl). Utilitarian forms are transformed into bearers of ideas, while their morphology and material solutions refer to symbolic and metaphorical planes that go beyond their original pragmatic essence.

The exhibition also presents a selection of the extensive free work of Rony Plesl, new artistic director of SIN. With every project Plesl tirelessly pushes the boundaries of glass sculpture. Moving between rigorous geometry, fascination with organic elements, inspiration from archetypal themes from art history or ubiquitous spirituality and sacred topics, the works offer a view of glass as a medium with infinite expressive possibilities. In his hands, glass becomes a material that can faithfully transmit themes from nature, conceptualize everyday objects in the intentions of post-Duchampian heritage. Most importantly, they create intimate micro-stories. With simple gestures, they stimulate one’s imagination, opening up a world of symbols, metaphors, as well as personal memories and emotions. Themes from Christian iconography coexist seamlessly with the fascination with female figure or the dynamics of interpersonal relationships. Everything is anchored by the omnipresent undertone of memento mori. The project concludes with a series of semi-transparent drawings on perforated paper, non-invasively subjugating the space opening up, in a reduced form, narratives between heaven and earth, or between rationality and intuition.