What are the Colours of Transparency?

After a successful show at London Design Fair in September, the students of UMPRUM Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design returned to Prague to showcase their glass works at home. The second installment of their exhibition Colours of Transparency is showing at the HYB4 Gallery at Campus Hybernská. The works on display were made by the students of Studio of Glass, a workshop which is led by renowned glass artist professor Rony Plesl.

The diverse works in the show represent the students’ exploration of and experimentation with colour. They disrupting traditional making techniques and reimagine glass for contemporary contexts whether that is as an artist of designer or both. Plesl describes the process behind the works: “We lay down a lot of direct and honest questions that stir up the students to maximum performance and they attack their work with intensity.”

Responding to this challenging environment and criteria, František Jungvirt’s piece, Birth of the Future Behind Glass, radically reimagines the craftsmanship of the Renaissance and Baroque periods. He re-envisioned how decorative elements are incorporated into glass vessels by using a spray gun to apply decorative elements at the final stages of production.

Other works in the exhibiton include a modern chandelier made with blue and red neons entitled Neon Deamon by David Černý; Jana Němcová’s bright sculptural pieces, Chimera; and the translucent vessel sculpture, White Shoots by Klára Horáčková amongst many others.

Colours of Transparency marks the tenth year that Rony Plesl has been the head of the Glass Studio. It is both a celebration of the anniversary and a demonstration of the skill and conceptual strength of glass practice. Excitingly, the exhibition also hints at what the future of glasswork might hold with these students entering into the worlds of design, art and craftsmanship.

Colours of Transparency will be on display until November 18