Jiří Kačer

Academic sculptor, restorer and teacher, born on 9 April 1952 in Prague. He studied at the School of Applied Crafts in Prague (1967–1970, stucco work), the Secondary Technical School of Stonemasonry and Sculpture in Hořice (1970–1974, under Professor R. Šnajdr) and the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague (1975–1981). From 1990 to 1994 he worked at the Academy as an assistant to Professor Jan Hendrych. As a restorer he worked on copies of sculptures by M. B. Braun and F. M. Brokoff, on the sculptures of Charles Bridge, at Prague Castle and on the Holy Trinity group in the Lesser Town. His basic material is stone — granite, sandstone, limestone, marble, serpentinite; besides sculpture he makes reliefs, frottages and enamels. From early figuration he moved to abstract forms in which the trace of human presence can only be sensed; his works respect the natural shape and structure of the stone, which he sometimes merely underlines with a geometric line (the cycles Fragment, Stele, Blocks, Backs).

Since 1981 he has taken part regularly in international sculpture symposia in the Czech Republic, Austria, Sweden and Italy; he founded and organised the Sculptors’ Meeting symposium in Přední Kopanina. Since 1982 he has held over 50 solo exhibitions (Prague, Hradec Králové, Litoměřice and others) and has exhibited jointly with, for instance, Aleš Hnízdil at the Prague City Gallery (2019). He has over 20 works in public space in Czech towns (Prague, Kuks, Mikulov, Uherský Brod; 1993–2019). He has been a member of Umělecká beseda since 2004.