Flower

topaz glass, fused in a mould, cut and polished, signed and dated EX 2011/21, height 37 cm, diameter 57 cm (Zí)

After studying at the Glassmaking Secondary School in Železný Brod, he continued his studies in Prague at the AAAD in prof. Libenský’s studio, where he graduated in 1976. Alongside his freelance glass art, Jan Exnar also paints and designs stained glass. In 1998, he became one of the founding members of the artists’ group Rubikon, which was founded by the theorist Ivo Křen. Alongside Jan Exnar, the other members were Bohumil Eliáš, Jaromír Rybák, Marian Volráb, and Jaroslav Matouš. Rubikon was a loose group comprised of the leading glass artists who exhibited together in the Czech Republic and abroad.
As a glassmaker, Jan Exnar primarily uses the technique of fused sculpture. The author’s earlier works were often made out of crystal. Simple, organic shapes with polished surfaces that create plays of light are typical for his work. A gallery example of the author’s approach is the torso of a girl from the year 1994 on offer. The author gradually started to use colorful glass mostly in dark and muted tones. The subject matter of his art changed, and a frequent motif became finiteness or infiniteness, or the tension between two separate spaces. A very elegant example of this artistic direction is the work on offer, Cross-Section, from the year 2004 (cat. number 36). Recently, Jan Exnar has brightened his works with colorful enamel, and started to use a very vivid and optimistic color scheme. Thematically, he has focused on figurative motifs, but also searched for inspiration in nature.
His motif of a blossoming flower, which was the inspiration for the work on offer, Flower, from the year 2011, is visually attractive.