Libensky – Brychtova

This commission was one of the great experiences of my career. It was done for collectors in the Detroit area who had seen my exhibit at Habatat Gallery in Birmingham Michigan in 2003. They had an extensive collection of sculptures by the Czech couple Stanislav Libensky and Jaroslava Brychtova and asked me to do a piece based on their working relationship.

After a misstep I came to understand the project better and I was pushed to go beyond where I had been working. I decided to use a piece, “The Bird” which was part of their collection as a jumping off place. This pice was somewhat unique to the Libensky/Brichtova body of work in that is was a one of a kind as opposed to the editions that they normally produced. It was also a sculpture that was composed of several complex pieces that fit together to form a single unit.

The typical way in which the Libensky’s worked was to have Stanislav do a fully developed drawing and then have Jaroslava interpret that drawing into clay. Then the two of them would discuss and refine the piece until they were satisfied. At this point a mold would be made then the sculpture cast into glass.

In my concept the sculpture was drawn directly on the wall in three times life scale and the two figures emerging from the drawing in three dimensions doing their respective parts of the creation.