Jan Dostál
(* 1992, CZ)
Jan Dostál was born on 6 August 1992 in Olomouc, where he lives and works to this day. From 2012 to 2018 he studied at the Faculty of Fine Arts of Brno University of Technology, in Professor Michal Gabriel’s sculpture studio.
He first drew attention in 2015, when he installed the steel sculpture “Alien” on the roof of a building in Olomouc — a work that is still one of the marks of his presence in the city. His approach lies in assembling small geometric elements into complex, deliberately open structures that can be seen into; he draws inspiration from nature and animals.
His other works include the steel “Hyena” and the twelve-metre sculpture “Creature”, first shown at the Sculpture Line festival in Prague and later installed in Smetana Park in Olomouc. His most important commission was an eleven-tonne stainless steel fountain as the centrepiece of the Czech pavilion at the EXPO world exhibition in Dubai (2020–2021).
He has made his living from sculpture since 2010 and is among the roughly twenty sculptors in the Czech Republic able to support themselves by it alone.
