FROM July 12 TO September 29, 2024, RENAISSANCE HALL ON THE 2ND FLOOR OF THE CASTLE
After ten years, the renowned glass artist Ilja Bílek returns to Pardubice Castle, a graduate of the prestigious glassmaking studio of Stanislav Libenský at the Prague Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design. His roots lie in his high school studies. He graduated from the famous Glass School in Železný Brod, where he mastered the technique of glass melting, which he remained faithful to in various positions throughout his creative career, often in combination with cast or flat glass. In his work, Bílek explores the spatial relationships of basic geometric shapes, which he combines in a logical but always surprising way into economical yet very impressive sculptures. Their concept is reflected in drawings, which will also be seen at the exhibition, as well as in paper models. Bílek's work is sympathetically old-fashioned in this sense; he rarely uses computer modeling, and his works are thus a reflection of the classical creative process.
In the Renaissance Hall of Pardubice Castle, adjacent to the permanent exhibition of studio glassmaking S.K.L.E.M., Bílek's works will commemorate the recent 75th birthday of the longtime head of the glassmaking studio at the University of Jan Evangelista Purkyně in Ústí nad Labem.
