Rony Plesl

Glassicism

• Rony grew up in the heartland of glass, North Bohemia
• He looks for cosmic and surreal things
• Italian Renaissance and Baroque architecture inspire him

Rony Plesl is an accomplished glass sculptor and university professor. He was always fascinated by the geometry and intimacy of the Italian Renaissance, and the architectural opulence of the Baroque period. At the start of his career, he spent four years in Venice, where he learned from Italian master glassmakers. To this day Rony considers this period of his life truly essential to his life's work. He now works with a ground-breaking glassmaking technology called Vitrum Vivum, invented by Czech glass master Jiří Šín. This revolutionary process allows for the creation of full scale, three-dimensional, hyperrealistic glass sculptures, and so Rony fulfils his true ambition of modelling his works by hand with great precision and detail.

Interview

©Rony Plesl

©Rony Plesl

What are your sources of inspiration?

Cinema and literature have always inspired me from a young age. On the one hand, I am greatly inspired by everyday stories that are filled with romance and desires, and, on the other hand, by complex and mind-boggling extra-terrestrial things.

What was the first piece you ever made?

I made my first artworks during an internship at Barovier & Toso in Venice, the oldest family glass factory in the world. I had to create custom glasses for the German glass company Sahm and the Turkish glass brand Pasabahce. I also designed beer glasses for top Czech breweries.

Do you master any specific techniques?

Uranium glass has been produced in Bohemia since the Baroque period. Although hardly anyone makes it anymore, it is a central element in both my artworks and my product design. The uranium reacts to ultraviolet radiation and then the sculptures literally glow in the dark. A magical effect.

Do you train apprentices?

Since 2008, I head the Studio of Glass at the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague. I am extremely proud to be teaching new talents who know that to be a successful artist means to exhibit not only strictly in Czechia, but around the world.

Rony Plesl is a master artisan: he began his career in 1995 and he started teaching in 2008

Works

©Rony Plesl

©Rony Plesl

©Rony Plesl

©Rony Plesl

©Rony Plesl

Where