Martin Janecký

Bio

Martin Janecký (*1980)

Blue – slumbering, icy, as when you sleep with the window open.

Right from the start, Martin Janecký was fascinated by glass, a traditional material of his native region, and opted to continue his family’s long established craftsmanship. He enjoyed the uncontrollability of material that one encounters when one is learning the craft of glass. Because of this property, where molten glass stretches and expands in different ways, many people use it indiscriminately, the result being a work of chance. However, for Janecký, the opposite is true. He needs to have complete control over the final form, which for him means a lifelong, never-ending struggle. Perfectly mastered craftsmanship and deep artistic sensitivity are qualities that are obvious at first glance in Janecký’s sculptures. Although they do not take the sculptor’s physical form, all the works are essentially self-portraits or diaries. Facial expression is joined by colour in expressing the artist’s moods, both cheerful and melancholic.

Janecký works with two different glass techniques. The first is one that only a few people in the world have mastery of. The hand shaping of a glowing flask from the inside, where no moulds are used, is one of the most difficult disciplines when working with glass. It starts with a clean, even sphere, to which glass paints are applied in layers. The bubble is then opened and shaped with a rod with differently curved ends, as well as other tools, inside and out, into the desired shape. A thorough knowledge of human anatomy is essential, knowing exactly where every detail will be. The second technique that Janecký uses is the fusing of glass in a mould, in which the artist uses 3D printing technology to create sculptures on a far larger scale and to process them not only in the gallery but also in the public space. Unlike blown glass a molten sculpture is from full glass, and its properties make it easier to work with light on its surface.