Cube

Many Czechoslovak artists working behind the Iron Curtain in the 1970s took inspiration for their work from the ideals of Czech modernism, a movement central to the Czech art world of decades earlier. The restrictive rules imposed on visual art in the 1950s precluded further expression of the modernist movement’s abstract and metaphysical ideas, ideas that were considered dangerously Western for a socialist audience. Because of glass’s status as an applied art, a movement of fine art glass based in modernist concepts was allowed to develop. Cubism was a major influence on both Czech modernism and mid-twentieth century glasswork. With Cube, Karel uses four structural pieces to guide and challenge the viewer’s eye. Visually competing projections change the interior landscape of this cube, altering its geometry and challenging the viewer’s perception of its features.