Born in 1952, Jaromir Rybák is one of the most intriguing Czech glass artists. At the age of fifteen he began a thorough, four-year training course at the glass technical college in Železný Brod. From 1973 to 1979 he continued his studies at the School of Applied Art in Prague where he became a pupil of Stanislav Libensky. Rybák's early work clearly reveals the influence of his teacher, but he quickly discovered a personal, artistic temperament. In Rybák's works, there is a constant dilemma between harmony and aggression as the brilliance of light and the vivid color effects of glass are associated with both monumentality and the bizarre surreal. One of Rybák's innovative techniques is the choice of combining glass with expressively different material, such as metal. The modeled shapes of bronze tend to evoke the naturalistic, dramatic forms while glass contributes the timeless, calming contrast. This combination of materials adds to Rybak's persistent style of juxtaposing imagination, curiosity, beauty, and the grotesque. Atlantis, both splendid and tragic, gives platform to Rybák's most prominent source of inspiration. Simultaneously captivated by the horrific and the beautiful, Rybák explores imaginative themes of the underwater world and twisted depths of the human mind. Though his work seems to teeter on the brink of frightful, there is a certain inclusion of lightheartedness and splendor that permeates beyond the surface.
