Ondřej Svoboda

Sculptor and artist, he lives and works in Brno. He studied at the Secondary Technical School of Foundry Work in Brno as an artistic blacksmith; straight after school he devoted himself fully to his own work. His forge was originally in Radňovice in Vysočina, after which he moved it to Brno (Žabovřesky, later the industrial district of Zábrdovice). He exhibited for the first time at Zeman’s café in Brno, followed by a number of group shows including a survey of young artists from across the EU in Strasbourg, France; he has also exhibited together with his father, the painter Jan Svoboda (“the painter from Radňovice”), at the Art Gallery in Chrudim. He starts from traditional hand blacksmithing techniques, combines black and stainless steel with wood and other natural materials, and works with finely textured surfaces and the contrast of gloss and matt, occasionally with striking red or steel-blue details.

His work is marked by clean lines, playful exaggeration, dynamism and humour; critics call his work “sculptural caricatures”. He makes both small-scale objects and monumental outdoor sculptures, and also works in applied art and jewellery.

Among his works: Memorial to the Unknown Astronaut, Mammoth, Mobile Observatory, a cycle of horses and bulls, Pegasus. He speaks of his own work as an endless search for the “absolute form” — proportions and shapes that would be complete and beyond question.