The fruit market filled the forest of Tooth sculptures

Prague - For two months starting today, people walking through Prague's Fruit Market will encounter slender sculptures by the famous Czech sculptor Olbram Zoubek. More than a hundred of Zoubek's figures are already being admired by tourists and locals on the day of the opening, and they are either photographing the sculptures individually or posing in the styles that the statues adopt. The open-air exhibition has been organized by gallery owner Karolína Bayerová and the City District of Prague 1 on the occasion of the sculptor's eightieth birthday. Zoubek will celebrate his anniversary on April 21.
The retrospective exhibition presents Zoubek's work from 1958 to the present day. Zoubek's unmistakable figures, characterized by slender verticality, surface modeling, and expressive gestures and stances, are today well-known. They also adorn numerous public buildings.
"This is a congratulation from Prague 1 as well as a thank you for the collaboration that resulted in the Monument to the Victims of Communism at Újezd," said the mayor of Prague 1, Vladimír Vihan, at a press conference today. The memorial was unveiled in 2002, and Zoubek collaborated with architects Zdeněk Hölzel and Jan Karel on it.
The author himself is not exactly sure how many sculptures he has created over the many decades of his work. "When I turned seventy, a catalog was published that counted my works at 950, but that included sketches and drafts. I only consider the sculptures as my work," said Zoubek. He also thanked the gallery owner for organizing the exhibition. "As my eightieth birthday approached, I expected that perhaps the National Gallery would reach out to me to organize an exhibition summarizing my work. But they did not reach out, only Karolína did," he said. Olbram Zoubek is not represented in the permanent exhibition of the National Gallery.
Zoubek has been creating his sculptures since 1952. He entered the awareness of the broader public in 1969 when he cast the death mask of Jan Palach and created a relief for his gravestone as well as for the gravestone of his successor, Jan Zajíc. During the normalization period, when he could not sustain himself through his own creations, he worked alongside artists Zdeněk Palcr, Stanislav Podhrázský, and Václav Boštík as a restorer in the castle in Litomyšl in the Svitavy region. In his work, he primarily draws from myths of the Old Testament, Greek, and recently also Slavic origins.
"I make my sculptures without pedestals, so they are at the level of the pavement; I want them to 'walk' and for people to encounter them. And just as people provoke each other, the sculptures should provoke them as well. I know that some people do not like them, but even the fact that they provoke someone is better than indifference," he stated.
The City District's contribution to the exhibition primarily involves covering the costs for continuous security oversight. The mayor believes that people will not vandalize the sculptures, but measures are in place to prevent potential theft. The exhibition will last until June 2.