“I Am Still in Love With Both Disciplines”
Interview and text: Monika Hanková
Štěpán Růžička reflects on his creative journey as both a visual artist and a musician, and discusses the coexistence of these two parallel universes in his life.
Štěpán Růžička (1983) is an award-winning sculptor, conceptual jeweller, musician, and ceramics master based in Prague, Czech Republic. He graduated from the prestigious Metal Studio (K.O.V. – Concept, Object, Meaning) of Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague (2012). His work was exhibited internationally (besides Prague, in Milano, Munich, Athens, London, and New York). Štěpán Růžička creates jewelry on the margins of fine art, and received critical recognition for his collection of brooches made out of tin lids. Lately, his signature medium of expression has been leather. Sculptural pieces such as “Masks”, “Vanitas”, “Rabbit Skulls”, and most recently “Trophies” present different stages along the path to discovering the essence of this material by way of stitching. Besides that, Štěpán Růžička is a band member of several distinguished Czech bands of different music styles and genres, and music has always played an important role in his life. Yet recently, this discipline seems to be of central importance to him. Indeed, it is at the core of his creativity and his vision.
The Beginnings in the Arts
“A whole new world of ideas and fantasies opened up to me.”
ZONE NY: Can you introduce yourself to ZONE NY readers?
Štěpán Růžička: I am a visual artist – a sculptor and a musician. Perhaps more musician than an artist at the moment. Both disciplines are forming my creative world and I would hate to leave one for the other; I would not feel whole. I work as a ceramics studio master at UMPRUM (Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague), and, most importantly, I am a father of three children.
How did you originally get into the visual arts, namely sculpture and jewelry? What was your journey and your career trajectory like?
It was quite a convoluted path, certainly not a direct one. I graduated from ceramics high school, where I learned to work with clay, to throw pottery, and to think in regard to space in general. Then I attended a fashion design college. At that time, I liked the idea of being able to shape or deform the human figure with clothing. I learned how to make basic cuts for different outfits and how to modify them in a simple way. During the studies I applied several times to UMPRUM, to sculpture and fashion design studios, but always unsuccessfully. So I gave myself more time for preparation and self-improvement, and a year later I was accepted into V. K. Novák’s Metal and Jewelry Studio. It was actually a sculpture studio, which had a basis in classical sculpture, but with an overlap into jewelry. So my path to jewelry was definitely not purposeful, rather accidental.
Eventually you graduated from the Metal Studio (K.O.V.) led by Eva Eisler. In one interview you mentioned that Eisler taught you to think in “a broad spectrum.” Can you explain this in more detail?
Eva Eisler came in as head of the Studio after V. K. Novák, and she was like a revelation to me from the very beginning. I admit I had to find my way to her and learn to understand how she thinks and how to appreciate her advice. But soon after, a whole new world of ideas and fantasies opened up to me. Eisler ran her studio focusing on interdisciplinarity. She insisted on precise implementation and strong, pure thought. She did not want us to focus on the object as a particular thing, but rather to be able to change its function through its form. For example, (she showed me) that one form could be a jewel in a small size, and, when enlarged, it could become for example a gallery building. I learned how to approach a particular piece of architecture in order for it to become a brooch on a garment. When a student can imagine the rich range of possibilities that can be done just by changing the size, it gives him or her something to think about for years.
Music and Art
“Coexisting souls”
Where do you see the intersection of music and art? How does music interwine with your own sculptural artwork?
Art and music are important to me as they are all around me; I am absorbed by them every day. While I have studied art, both theoretically and technically, I have been learning and trying to understand music with my heart. What I have always been sure of in art – the process, the motif, the outcome – has been a great expectation and exploration in music. I am still in love with both disciplines. There are days when I’m making sculptures while thinking of rather spending my time in the rehearsal studio, and then when I actually am at the studio, I’m thinking about what objects I would like to create. In short, it’s sometimes hard to decide where to be and what tools to use to express myself at that very moment. Some artists are musicians and vice versa. I think it’s common, after all, it’s both art. I can’t say I compose music into artwork, or translate art into music. I think of them as separate vessels, like coexisting souls. I don’t want to leave one for the other.
In recent years, however, I feel I have had more acclaim and success in the music world. I am performing with several bands of different genres (Parta vynikajících lidí, Jakub König & Hvězdy, and Andy Cermak, remark M. H.), and I’m playing several gigs basically every month. I see music as instant happiness; I get an immediate response to my production. After every song, there is applause, people buy merch right away, and the fans base gets bigger with every show. In art, you have to be more patient and intuitive, you have to work on it for a longer period of time. I have a specific signature style in art, so it is a bit more complicated or so I feel. Right now, I am in a period of re-evaluating what I have ever done and what to pursue further and more. So music is more intense for me than visual art at the moment. Music is my great love; I couldn’t imagine my life without it.
What music are you listening to lately?
Music accompanies me every day and literally all day long, from morning till night. I’m always listening to something new, but I keep going back to the kind of music I listened to when I was growing up. That’s why bands like Massive Attack, Tricky, Radiohead, Ghostpoet, The Young Gods, and, of course, Nine Inch Nails are the Holy Grail for me. I listen to Algiers a lot now; their musical thinking is captivating. Damon Albarn is the new David Bowie for me, I love him. I’d like to see Puma Blue, Parcels or Moses Sumney performing live.
How has your own development as a musician been?
I’m more responsible and more nervous. But I’m also more open and, of course, more technical. My musical instrument skill level is deepening and expanding. I’m more aware of the relationship between the instruments, their use, and the colour of the sound. I play less, which can mean better in music.
Relationship to Leather and Other Materials
“Leather never ceases to amaze me”
Back in 2013, you had a solo show in Prague entitled Creating by Touch. Can you introduce its concept to readers? How do you feel about it now, ten years later – has your view on “creating by touch” changed in any way?
In 2013, I had an exhibition at “We Exhibit Gallery“ in Prague, and until then it was my first solo show. I presented both my thesis and my other collections, which were mostly created during my studies at UMPRUM. These were mainly leather objects. At that time, leather was already a material that had met my sculptural requirements, and I used it as a medium for making my sculptures. It persists to this day. Indeed, “creating by touch” still remains with me. It has become my main line of thought. It’s important for me to get to know things and shapes through touch. The eyes can see and recognize a lot of things, but there is a vide range of hidden qualities of a particular object, which one can only explore by touch – its temperature and surface (if it grinds, slips, or sticks), its energy and moisture, etc.
In recent years, you have collaborated with Martin Janecký, the world-known Czech glass artist, and with the fashion designer Lukáš Spilka. How would you describe your relationship to leather, to glass, and to ceramics? How do you relate to each of these materials?
I work mostly with leather. It never ceases to amaze me and I perceive it as a material with tremendous energy and life history. It is difficult to find words for my relationship with leather, but perhaps it can be described as follows: leather (as material) used to be skin for a living being. It was a protective outer layer of the body and, at the same time, it was a covering for the soul. This, in itself, is very powerful. Then the skin leaves the body and serves as material. And I take that skin and make something out of it again that serves as a cover for the soul, the soul of the object.
I collaborated with Lukáš Spilka on a men’s fashion collection. He designed men’s clothes, and I worked on the accessories. My goal was to make wearable objects that could be presented later separately, with no relation to clothes. I created a collection of torsos of chests and necks, all made of leather. They were like armour, masks or costumes. After the fashion show, I exhibited these torsos several times. Working with Martin Janecký was and still is a great honour for me. I respect him as a friend, as an artist, and, of course, as a craftsman. He is a tremendous talent in the visual arts and is considered the greatest star of our time in the field of glassmaking. He has been demonstrating his skill and unique technique of shaping glass from the inside out all over the world. I have had the privilege of assisting him in the process of creating glass sculptures and in producing the plaster moulds, which he uses to pre-shape some parts of the sculptures. He helped me to create several small glass sculptures, the originals of which I have made from leather.
Ceramics are difficult materials for me, or rather I had a hard time finding my way to ceramics. I went to high school majoring in ceramics and porcelain, and afterwards had worked in various ceramic workshops for 20 years. During this time, I stopped to perceive what a beautiful craft ceramics are as it was more of a duty than a joy. Ceramics were losing their charm for me, and it was only when I was offered to teach this art that I realised again how beautiful it is. Now, I’m full of it and I continue to improve. I help my students with their projects and we work together to figure out the processes of production. It’s fun.
The New York Experience
“Everything seemed unreal and yet existing”
How do you remember your stay in New York City back in 2009, and the presentation of the K.O.V. Studio at the Bohemian National Hall, NY?
As part of my studies, I had the opportunity to attend the opening of the show of Eva Eisler’s Metal Studio at the Czech Centre in New York. It was only a week in this microcosm, but I remember all the moments I experienced in this unique city. During the week I had to install and subsequently present the exhibition. There was not as much free time as it would have taken to get to know more about New York City. Due to jet lag, I always got up extremely early in the morning and walked from Harlem all the way to Battery Park, just enjoying myself, and my neck hurt as I kept looking up at tops of the buildings. I was examining all the decorations on the facades of the buildings, I was window shopping and admiring the street vendors. I was overwhelmed by the amount of traffic, and hustle and bustle on the streets. I saw paintings by Pollock, Picasso, Rothko. Everything seemed unreal and yet existing.
In 2018, one of your leather pieces was shown at Anonymous Brooklyn exhibition at the Brooklyn Metal Works Gallery, which was visited by hundreds of people. How important is public feedback to you?
Of course, feedback is very important to an artist. People’s reactions are usually marvelous: some stop and admire my things, some leave in disgust. I enjoy all these responses and am grateful for them. The worst and saddest part is when people don’t care at all and just apathetically pass by the objects on display. The problem here is also that some art pieces can be appreciated only much later, so it is important to persevere and keep developing and refining your signature style. Maybe one day it will be met with success, or not. There is a minimum of really successful artists. The rest is yearning for success and keeps trying. I’m trying to be strong and hang in there. I’m more precise, more detailed. I’m pursuing my self-development and my dreams.
Living and Working in the Heart of Europe
“Looking around makes me want to slow down and be perceptive”
Does Prague, the city where you live, play a role in your work? Do you relate to this metropolis in any way?
Yes, I have lived in Prague for 20 years, and it is certainly an important place for my work. Also, the folks I have met there and who have inspired me and helped me to realize my own potential in both art and music are unique. I can’t say that I would be a completely different person in some other place, but the big city that Prague is gives me more opportunities. There is simply a large quantity of galleries, clubs, and theatres. Different events are happening all the time, so there is always something going on. I also feel that there are more like-minded people around me and that is always important for any kind of work – not feeling alone. Despite all that Prague provides me with, I don’t think my sculptural motifs have a direct connection to this place. The origin and inspiration for my own creative work comes, in fact, from my childhood memories.
I come from a small town in Southern Bohemia, where there were meadows and woods not far from our house, and I had spent basically my entire childhood outdoors. In the woods, I was looking for mushrooms and mosses, anthills, and sometimes even an animal carrion. Underneath all these finds, my childhood imagination pictured how everything was created, and this still comes back to me in my dreams. I am happy with my family in Prague – they support me tremendously – and I know I would be happy with them anywhere.
Do you think keeping one’s (childhood) curiosity is important for creativity and for life in general?
Yes, it is. I’m trying to keep my “eyes open”, and be perceptive and curious like a little child. It’s the same with sound – I’m listening to all the sounds around me, looking for their sources, exploring and comparing them with each other. My youngest son and I walk through the streets of Prague looking at the facades of houses. I describe to him the ornate elements people created, and how beautiful the symmetry and aesthetics are. We recognize the stylized motifs, and marvel at the material designs and combinations. Prague centre has some really beautiful old buildings: Art Nouveau, Neo-Renaissance, Baroque, Functionalism, in short a complete catalogue of styles and possibilities. Looking around makes me want to slow down and be perceptive. Every day, I find beautiful places and details on buildings, trees, as well as in the parks, squares, and other places I’ve walked by a thousand times before. I just wasn’t as relaxed and willing to see these things before.
Currently, you are leading a ceramics studio at the Academy in Prague. What are the most significant things you would like to pass on to your students?
By teaching at UMPRUM I have the opportunity to pass on to students what I have been doing for more than 20 years, namely the ceramics. How they are made, their aesthetics, functionality, and everything about shaping the clay on the potter’s wheel. I teach my students to be patient, to be aware of how to use their bodies when working, and how to work efficiently. Sometimes it is difficult to find the right words for all the different steps and workflows, so I often show them things myself and thus offer them techniques to observe. I work intensively with each of my students and try to adjust their methods, so that their style doesn’t change, but the result is technically correct. I also spend my time with students just talking to them, listening to their day-to-day struggles and concerns. Sometimes I feel more like a therapist than a ceramics studio master.
What would you like to do next? What are your plans?
I have always been happy for what I have and what I can be a part of. I’m strict with myself, so I’m constantly trying to improve in everything. My outlook is to be a better sculptor, a better musician, and a better father and husband. It’s all rooted in patience and precision. I also want to remain mindful and receptive by keeping my eyes open at all times. I certainly have some dreams. For example, I would like to play one song with my idols and shake their hands. These are such childhood fantasies. Actually, I still feel like a kid in some ways…
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