Jiří Plieštík

Sculptor, designer, photographer and poet, born on 28 June 1956 in Nové Město na Moravě. From 1971 to 1976 he studied at the Secondary Technical School of Mechanical Engineering in Žďár nad Sázavou, and from 1976 to 1978 at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering of the Czech Technical University, without completing it. From 1981 to 1987 he studied sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague under Professors Miloš Axman and Stanislav Hanzík. From 1977 to 1990 he was assistant to the sculptor Hana Wichterlová, from 1990 to 1996 assistant to Professor Karel Nepraš at the Academy, and from 1996 to 2000 he led the preparatory sculpture course there; since 2000 he has worked freelance. The subject of his work is abstracted, stylised figures; he works chiefly with plaster, bronze and stone. Solo exhibitions include the Gallery of the Young (Prague, 1993), Sculptures (Caesar Gallery, Olomouc, 1996), Sculptures (Sankturin House, Kutná Hora, 1997), Sculptures (Galerie Brno, 2005), New Jimramov / Ve Stodolní Gallery (2013–2016), Early Spring.

Works: monuments in Prague (2003–2004), fountains in Trenčín (2010) and Žďár nad Sázavou (2015), sculptures in Austria, Germany, the Netherlands and Denmark. Represented in public and private collections in Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark, Lithuania, Slovakia, Poland, Cyprus, France, Argentina, the USA, Australia and the Czech Republic.

Awards: two first prizes in competitions for Prague memorials (2003), the bronze medal of the Minister of Defence and a nomination for Design of the Year (2004), a bronze award in the A’Design Award & Competition in Milan (2014).