The grand gesture - Sculptor Libertiny wants to make lasting work.
I found Tomáš Libertiny working in the basement of one of the city’s breeding grounds. His work of a gigantic Christ-figure in beeswax, made by a swarm of 60,000 bees, left me deeply impressed and gave me the urge to talk to this visionary, who although, humbly working in a basement, does not go unnoticed: MoMa New York bought his Honeycomb Vase (2006) and he is currently working on a designer line for a big fashion brand.
The grand gesture
I’m Slovakian. My father was an architect and my mother a scientific historian. My father was a fanatic hiker and every weekend we were at it. I think that is were my appreciation of nature and its pictorial quality started.
I love the grand gesture: a mountain lies right next to a breathtaking valley. The sensation of depth in the perception is something that I strive for in my work. I counterpart my nature loving tendencies with a technical background, I studied engineering for two years and try to find the structure in beauty and love technical details in the work.
The unbearable Lightness
The Unbearable Lightness, my latest piece of work, is a metaphor for manipulation and control. It is a result of the combination of technology and nature. The bees as an intelligent and social mass are lured and manipulated into participating in building a Christ-like figure which represents a myth. The bees are doing what they do every day and what they do best. They're designed by nature to do this repetitive job. It is a bitter-sweet symfony.
Bees
The more I say about it, the less poetic my work becomes. I wish we were more like bees, really. Humans make things more complicated by looking for reason and answers, which is all good but makes life somehow unbearable. Ironically, the most happy people are the ones who know very little.We are lazy, bees are social entities, dedicated and simple. They live to sacrifice themselves for a greater good. Their higher power, the queen, is very real and alive. We have no God, yet crave for one, there is no real point to what we are doing, so we try to make the why up. It makes us complex and not necessarily nice. When I say we have no God, I paraphrase Ivan from Brothers Karamazov by F.Dostoyevsky who says “if there is is no God everything is permitted”. with the help of an aphorism “if you believe nothing you fall for anything” the term faith becomes even broader.
Texture
I was a highly conceptual designer at the start of my career in 2006. Choosing the material of beeswax seemed avant-garde at the time. It is an odd choice. It has a counter-revolutionary feel to it. It was a perfect vessel for my ideas on political and social situations and production methods.
I have set the conceptual meaning aside since and wanted to perfect the handling of this material. Because the work of an artist can’t only be about conceptuality, but should also answer to a certain measure of craftmanship. In my experimental work, I take on the role of sculptor, more than that of the designer.
Literature
I deal with philosophical questions. I grew up with books. The Russian literature is one my favourites, it is so highly sensitive, with such brave and tragic heroes. Books like Brother Karamazov are so full, have such a conceptual complexity. It’s like those writers have been composing classical music instead of writing a simple story. That is how it withstands the hand of time, that inspires me.
Works like that of the beat generation don't communicate with me. It is not scientific enough, a stream of consciousness seems too simple to have any effect on me.
Modern art
That is the problem I have with modern art, it is often too simple. When you put forth the question: what is art? The answer is: anything you can do, but you didn’t.
Anything can become art, but most things can’t stay art. Value comes from its context, but I mourn the disappearance of skill within the arts. Designing things that are cheap and less demanding for the production seems to be the trend.
I try to create work for the eternity and doing so, it kills its relevance for the present. I find beauty in dedicating my life to making something worthwhile.
Rotterdam
Rotterdam is as good a place as any. I like the people in this city. I just happen to find myself here, due to work-related ventures. I studied at the Design Academy in Eindhoven, but I never intended to end up here, but I’m glad to be here, I can’t think of a place I’d rather be.
Thomas is currently working on a solo exhibition of sculptural pieces, to be shown in the summer of 2011 in Paris. More info can be found at: http://www.perimeter-artauddesign.com
Related videos:
Related blogs:
Go to channel:
The grand gesture
I’m Slovakian. My father was an architect and my mother a scientific historian. My father was a fanatic hiker and every weekend we were at it. I think that is were my appreciation of nature and its pictorial quality started.
I love the grand gesture: a mountain lies right next to a breathtaking valley. The sensation of depth in the perception is something that I strive for in my work. I counterpart my nature loving tendencies with a technical background, I studied engineering for two years and try to find the structure in beauty and love technical details in the work.
The unbearable Lightness
The Unbearable Lightness, my latest piece of work, is a metaphor for manipulation and control. It is a result of the combination of technology and nature. The bees as an intelligent and social mass are lured and manipulated into participating in building a Christ-like figure which represents a myth. The bees are doing what they do every day and what they do best. They're designed by nature to do this repetitive job. It is a bitter-sweet symfony.
Bees
The more I say about it, the less poetic my work becomes. I wish we were more like bees, really. Humans make things more complicated by looking for reason and answers, which is all good but makes life somehow unbearable. Ironically, the most happy people are the ones who know very little.We are lazy, bees are social entities, dedicated and simple. They live to sacrifice themselves for a greater good. Their higher power, the queen, is very real and alive. We have no God, yet crave for one, there is no real point to what we are doing, so we try to make the why up. It makes us complex and not necessarily nice. When I say we have no God, I paraphrase Ivan from Brothers Karamazov by F.Dostoyevsky who says “if there is is no God everything is permitted”. with the help of an aphorism “if you believe nothing you fall for anything” the term faith becomes even broader.
Texture
I was a highly conceptual designer at the start of my career in 2006. Choosing the material of beeswax seemed avant-garde at the time. It is an odd choice. It has a counter-revolutionary feel to it. It was a perfect vessel for my ideas on political and social situations and production methods.
I have set the conceptual meaning aside since and wanted to perfect the handling of this material. Because the work of an artist can’t only be about conceptuality, but should also answer to a certain measure of craftmanship. In my experimental work, I take on the role of sculptor, more than that of the designer.
Literature
I deal with philosophical questions. I grew up with books. The Russian literature is one my favourites, it is so highly sensitive, with such brave and tragic heroes. Books like Brother Karamazov are so full, have such a conceptual complexity. It’s like those writers have been composing classical music instead of writing a simple story. That is how it withstands the hand of time, that inspires me.
Works like that of the beat generation don't communicate with me. It is not scientific enough, a stream of consciousness seems too simple to have any effect on me.
Modern art
That is the problem I have with modern art, it is often too simple. When you put forth the question: what is art? The answer is: anything you can do, but you didn’t.
Anything can become art, but most things can’t stay art. Value comes from its context, but I mourn the disappearance of skill within the arts. Designing things that are cheap and less demanding for the production seems to be the trend.
I try to create work for the eternity and doing so, it kills its relevance for the present. I find beauty in dedicating my life to making something worthwhile.
Rotterdam
Rotterdam is as good a place as any. I like the people in this city. I just happen to find myself here, due to work-related ventures. I studied at the Design Academy in Eindhoven, but I never intended to end up here, but I’m glad to be here, I can’t think of a place I’d rather be.
Thomas is currently working on a solo exhibition of sculptural pieces, to be shown in the summer of 2011 in Paris. More info can be found at: http://www.perimeter-artauddesign.com
Related videos:
Related blogs:
- EMSCHERKUNST – sculptor Bogomir Ecker creates an unstable piece of art
- Rotterdam: the delicate skeleton
Go to channel:
Fri, 07.01.2011
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