Petr Szyroki

Petr Szyroki (b. 1991) is a Czech sculptor, illustrator and poet. He comes from the Karviná area — sources give his birthplace as Karviná or as Dětmarovice. From 2007 to 2011 he studied ceramics at the Secondary School of Art in Ostrava, then from 2012 to 2017 sculpture at the Faculty of Fine Arts of the University of Ostrava in the studio of Assoc. Prof. Jaroslav Kolešek; in 2015–2016 he completed a study placement at ENSA in Bourges, France. Since 2018 (with a break) and continuously since 2020 he has taught industrial design at the Secondary School of Applied Arts for Glassmaking in Valašské Meziříčí and is a member of the school’s artistic board.

He works chiefly with concrete, building and waste materials, wood, ceramics and upcycling; typical of him is a play with the symbolism of stone blocks, with imitation marble and with analytical constructions. Critics praise the fragility, wit and precision of his sculptural idiom. His subjects touch on physical work and its meditative dimension, on a critique of product culture and on existential questions. Alongside sculpture he works in printmaking and poetry (the text Slag, Ravt review 5/2020, with Ivan Motýl).

Solo exhibitions (selection): 2014 FIELD, MEADOW, FOREST, Café-pub Sádrový Ježek, Ostrava; 2016 Paris Salad, Wurst Gallery, Hlučín; 2017 BLACK GAME; 2017–2018 “I don’t give a damn, drag the block yourselves”, Jáma 10 Gallery, Ostrava (opening 19 December 2017); 2018 LORSQU, Saigon Gallery, Ostrava; 2026 Opop taurant (with the painter Václav Buchtelík), Dukla Gallery, Ostrava-Poruba (17 February – 10 May 2026). He took part in the international sculpture symposium in Orońsko (Poland, 2014).

Works in public space: Piazzetta Gallery in Ostrava (2018, together with other artists), a memorial plaque to the victims of the communist show trials in Ostrava at the Čapek Sokol Hall (2020), the Ota Filip Memorial (2026). At the Art in the City festival: 2018 On the Search for Calm and Unrest (Černá v Pošumaví), 2024 Wild Marbles (Vodňany), 2025 Wild Marbles II (Vodňany) and Reconnect (České Budějovice).