I believe I am not the first to notice that what Josef Marek has achieved in his visions and has materialized in his glass sculptures is certainly extraordinary and hugely important. It is a monumental contribution to the cause of consciously attaining our totality in beauty and beatitude, to the cause of the knowledge of our Self in a state of silent and humble methexis (μέθεξις)* of the Primordial Beauty.

"We mostly live in Shadows. Greatest mysteries, silent all pervading Truths,
are written in the language of myths and poetry and in the silent language of sculptures".

Are we guessing at shadows in firelight? Are we trapped in sensory modalities?
This is the essence of the platonic Myth of the Cave. Can one positively experiment on the Myth? I must answer "yes". And this is how to do it sculpturally:

Ideas, universal Forms, come and seize your mind. It simply happens. The rest is just hard work. Carefully stage lines and surfaces,volumes and cavities, presence and absence, paths of light and shadows, all in glass, all in various degrees of transparency. Set up the alchemical laboratory of the senses and the perceiving mind. Then... snap ! An undeniable illusion is suddenly standing in front of our very own puzzled eyes. The ordinary senses are ceasing, stopping, slowing down from wandering endlessly. An illusion with no tangible material/ substratum has opened the gate that leads from the tangible to the Idea. Nous (Mind) emerges, seeing inside itself, coming to itself,
seeing beyond the spatiotemporal, mainly processual, functional walls and boundaries raised by the gravity and the opacity of the sensible three dimensional, limited, commonplace objects.

Freed from gravity and opacity, the Mind is sliding over academic chatter, to enter into this silent,non verbal visual lab and ponder on the eternal nonindividualistic truths about our hidden Oneness, our one and only essence as responsive and experiencing beings. In full splendor and with convincing power,

aided by Marek distinctively clear sculptural visualization , the most abstract elements of the platonic Myth of the Cave are facing us, ready to discuss with us, but impossible to argue with us –since Ideal Beauty excludes the option of arguing. This is the summit of the human mysteries.

"We mostly live in Shadows.
Greatest mysteries, profound Truths
are written in the language of myths, poetry and in the silent language of sculptures".

Antonios Sophocleus Evangelinos, Aioleus, physicist,ontologist, philosopher 14.02.2014, Lesvos

* methexis (μέθεξις as written in Greek) means wide awake conscious ( or even super conscious) participation, assimilation, corroboration and ontological union, in the most profound, deep, meaningful and holistic non-fragmentary way.

The sculptor Josef Marek (born 1963)

For the past few years is living and working between Nicosia, Cyprus and Nový Bor in North Bohemia.

His main focus is in re-melting glass in moulds completed by glass cutting , polishing and many other glass techniques . From the moment he stepped onto the art scene , he has participated in many group exhibitions in Europe and overseas. He had seven solo exhibitions in Toyama, Japan as well as exhibitions in Paris , Frýdek CR, Malmö , The Hague , Leerdam and now in Hamburg. Josef Marek studied at the Secondary School of Applied Glass Art in Kamenicky Senov (1978-1982). After graduating he became a glass cuter in Crystalex. He also worked as a teacher in the Technical School of Glass making in Kamenicky Senov(1986-1989 )

After the "Velvet Revolution " (1989 ) , when admission to a school was not decided based on political views , but only by precondition for creative art work he was accepted at the Academy of Applied Arts in Prague.

For two years he studied in the special glass department of Professor Vladimír Kopecký (1990-1992) , then moved to the department of glass in architecture under professor Marian Karel ,who had more near, contemporary art opinions and ideas ( 1992-1996). With a lot of practice and experience he has gained before studying in the academy he was already ideologically mature with his own approach to visual tasks , and this had big positive impact on his work .

The year after graduating from college (1997-2000) he worked as a visiting professor for glass cold processes in Toyama Institute of glass Art .

During the time in Japan he started remelting of glass in moulds, cutting, polishing and combining glass with stone continuing on his earlier work. A new technique for him was to work with polished stainless steel and copper plates which he combined with glass in order to explore and to create illusive inner space of the sculptural objects fabricated out of glass mass.

Since returning to the Czech Republic he has created more compelling and visually stimulating works influenced from the culture of the land of the rising sun. He often combines glass with natural materials ( often with basalt ) as illusionary space consisting of transparent and opaque mass and maximum contrasts are impressive and convincing. However, his work is dominated by sculptures made out of glass. He seeks maximum simplicity, but enriches it with details on the surface and inside the mass. He also uses other glass techniques such as structural etching and, the almost forgotten, glue-chipping surface or tarnishing . Still, he prefers Crystal glass with sealed plastic details and during the creation of his sculptures uses procedures developed over the time. He also likes to use colored glass and its ability to create the illusion of the depth and occasionally still combines glass with other materials like stones with natural surface. This gives to his work uniqueness , individuality and unrepeatable originality.

Antonín Langhamer Jablonec 2014