At the age of 75, sculptor Jiří Beránek has died today

Prague - Today, at the age of 75, sculptor Jiří Beránek passed away after an illness. Benedikt Tolar, who, like Beránek before, works at the Faculty of Arts and Design of the University of West Bohemia in Pilsen, told ČTK. Beránek belonged to a generation of artists who had to define themselves in their work as fresh graduates of art schools during the oppression of the normalizing 70s.

Beránek's work thus reflected the bleak reality of the time while also representing an effort to maintain a developmental connection to the dynamic art of the 60s. Initially, he primarily worked with wood, plaster, and found objects, often allowing the shapes of trunks, the placement of branches, and the texture of material to guide him. His assembled sculptures are influenced by surrealism. From charred beams, he constructed structures resembling abandoned houses, ruined buildings, extinct settlements, devastated castles, and captured fortresses. In addition to his sculpture, he also drew. Beránek's improvised yet romantic work influenced many younger artists.

Sculptor and draughtsman Jiří Beránek was born on November 21, 1945, in Borkovice. He studied at the Secondary School of Decorative Arts in Prague and at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague. He led a sculpture studio at the Academy of Art, Architecture and Design in Prague. He began exhibiting independently in 1969 and participated in collective exhibitions since 1973. He created objects for religious spaces (Libčeves, Litoměřice, Mohelnice, Hradec Králové, Uherský Brod) as well as exteriors (Lemberk sandpit, Hitfeld near Hamburg).

In the 70s and 80s, he participated in numerous important group exhibitions, many of which were unofficial or permitted under a fictional organizer, such as Gong (1983), Colored Sculpture (1985), Colored Plastic (1988), One Older, One Younger (1988), Middle Age (1989). After 1989, he frequently exhibited abroad, worked at sculptural meetings and symposia, and was one of the important representatives of the older middle generation.

His works are represented in many public collections. He was a member of the loose association 12/15 Late, but nevertheless. In 1991, he received a scholarship from the Jackson-Pollock Krasner Foundation in New York.