After studying at the High School of Applied Arts in Czechoslovakia, Miroslav Maler furthered his education in visual arts at the Université du Québec à Montréal, and then specialized in sculpture at Columbia University in New York. He has participated in numerous international sculpture events, including the Lemberk International Sculpture Symposium in Czechoslovakia in 1990 and the 2nd International Sculpture Symposium in Mure, Japan, in 1991. His artworks are in public collections in North America, Europe, and Asia.
Artwork description
The artwork is presented in a green space bordering Lake Saint-Louis. It is a monolithic sculpture portraying the body of a man emerging from a block of stone. On the lower part of the piece, a fish brushes against the man’s leg; a large feather is carved on the opposite face. The sculpture is made of stone incrusted with metallic pigments, and some parts are left smooth, not carved.
Études pour la figure, Saint-Laurent combines geometry and the human form in a single rocky mass that exudes the same rigidity and static quality as statues created by early ancient Greek artists. The dynamism of the artwork comes from the variety of textures on its surface and the different approaches used to carve the stone. These superimposed blocks present a complex organization of flat and polished surfaces, right angles, and sections sculpted in full-found and bas-relief. The artwork has a narrative dimension; it evokes the impressive force of almost-wild countryside discovered by the men who landed in the New World. The fish near the man’s leg refers to the river, the vital axis for penetration into the rich territories unknown to the people who explored them.