Rony Plesl: Trees Grow from the Sky

The House of Art Ceske Budejovice presents “Trees Grow from the Sky,” a large-scale site-specific installation of four glass sculptures by Rony Plesl in the Chiesa di Santa Maria della Visitazione in Venice. The exhibition, curated by Lucie Drdova, will mark the global premiere of “Vitrum Vivum,” a revolutionary full-relief technology which involves casting glass as if it were bronze, giving the artist full freedom to begin with paper, plaster, or natural models, which become artifacts themselves. Three pure crystal glass monoliths imprinted by an 80-year old oak tree found in the woods of Bohema mirror the columns of the Chiesa nave, while a fourth tree near the altar, wrought of uranium glass and covered with a bas-relief of the bodies of Christ, symbolizes a metamorphosis of the bark into human flesh. Plesl takes inspiration from geometric form, the intimacy of the Italian Renaissance, the centuries-old crystal production of the master craftsmen of his native Czech Republic, and the architectural opulence of the Baroque. His Venetian show, corresponding with the 2022 International Year of Glass and 59th Venice Biennale, illuminates its site with a revelatory light and explores the possibilities of glass as a living material.