Czech Republic

While art has a purely individual character, there are cases when the imaginations of two artists overlap and complement each other so well that they choose to work together.

Ingrid Račková and David Suchopárek, who have been making art together as IRDS since 2001, are graduates of Prague’s Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design (1993–1999); she studied at the glass studio (prof. Vladimír Kopecký) and he studied the use of glass in architecture (prof. Marian Karel).

After many years of design work that gave them confidence in handling materials, they have managed to transform this “genetic inheritance”, the seemingly impossible marriage between intimate space and monumentality, into their own artistic approach to glass, which currently has three different aspects.

Their geometric objects made from cut and layered coloured glass are considered to the last detail and made with flawless craftsmanship into the form of pyramids that become the visual and emotional centre of any space. Račková and Suchopárek can fully utilise all the optical effects of glass and choose colour combinations that make each of these archetypal shapes feel unique.

A combination of geometric and organic patterns can be seen in their dynamic melted glass sculptures: cut, matted, polished or layered. Here, too, colour plays an important role, giving the objects a visual definition and adding another dimension.

Račková and Suchopárek particularly stand out with their glass paintings, which are mainly engraved and painted. After a period of geometric constructions, they have turned to a purely abstract approach. They use glass the way a painter uses canvas; for them it’s a material whose optical and aesthetic properties are secondary. And yet these paintings, just like their objects, can dominate a space.

Ingrid Račková and David Suchopárek are not only creative, as you’d expect artists to be, but also ambitious and hardworking. They have an inner discipline that guarantees their further artistic growth. Their current work is the result of thousands upon thousands of hours spent with glass and thinking about glass. That’s why it’s so impressive and alluring.

Petr Nový, Museum of Glass and Jewellery in Jablonec nad Nisou.