About me
Jan Dostál
Sharpness and brutality combined with dynamism and excessive size are expressive elements that the artist Jan Dostál literally carves into his sculptures. Despite this, the resulting feeling of his work sounds very light, even though most of the works weigh several tens of tons.
The characteristic material of his work is clearly steel, hence pipes and sheets of various lengths, which he cuts, twists and deforms in every possible way. It is stainless steel, which reflects the world around it, that is typical of his works. Then less often we can encounter colored variants of white or yellow metal.
The most common measure that an artist works with is large format – the work exceeds our limits of perception, and one is unable and not expected to grasp it in its entirety. The statue is spatially designed so that you can find yourself under it. At that moment, the surrounding world shifts slightly into the background – reality ceases to exist and space for self-discovery is created.
The dynamics that appear in all his works can be found in the playful intervention with different thicknesses of individual pipes. The change in diameter creates a smooth movement and the whole work starts to feel alive.
Jan Dostál, a native of the city of Olomouc, creates mostly abstract works that are inspired by sacred geometry, the universe, fantastic animals and various organisms in the role of a symbiote or parasite. The sketches of the sculptures are either drawn in pencil on paper or digitally modeled on a computer.
The demanding installation, combined with the heavy, difficult-to-handle material, often does not go without the help of heavy machinery. The compensation for this is practically the impossibility of damaging or otherwise ruining the work. The direct interaction of the viewer with the sculpture by touching is a necessary and desired factor for the author.
Recently, the artist is beginning to discover a smaller format, too, which opens up new possibilities for him. One has an overview of the work and can examine it from different angles. In newly created works, he often works with light or movement – rotation.
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Kateřina Fucsiková
