Lars Widenfalk and Alena Matejka: An artistic marriage of stone and glass

By Malin Norman

Artists Lars Widenfalk and Alena Matejka met 25 years ago. Although their materials, themes and working methods differ, they share an interest in narrative, memory, mythology and the relationship between human beings and nature.

Swedish artist and sculptor Lars Widenfalk works primarily with stone and comes from the tradition of figurative sculpture. He is behind the famous black stone violin Blackbird, the only one of its kind in the world. Constructed to the designs of the iconic Stradivarius violin, it uses the artist’s own technical solutions.

“I have always worked figuratively but with elements of architectural forms, such as stairs and house constructions,” says Lars. “My main theme is time; time passing, time gone, the future. Stone, and especially granite, is for me a carrier of time.”

Perhaps you can see in his archaeological studies a context where Lars uses fragments and the raw stone surface as an indicator of time. An eroded face that he has just dug out of time – from his own universe of experiences and dreams. “The beauty is as much in the stone as the traces of the chisel,” he continues. “My large house constructions make both me and the viewer enter the room that the sculpture forms with its four pillars and gables. Follow the stairs that lead into the room and out of it. Like our lives.”

The Sea between Us, by Alena Matejka. Photo: Lars Widenfalk

Glass and its optical transformation

Since meeting artist Alena Matejka 25 years ago, Lars has also been working extensively with glass. “Alena was invited to participate in a Swedish/Czech sculpture symposium at KKV-B, an artist-run workshop in northern Bohuslän. The symposium lasted a month and it so happened that I was there at the same time, working on my large solo exhibition at Röda Sten,” says Lars. “And Alena introduced me to the fantastic world of glass.”

Alena is a Czech sculptor working primarily with glass and stone, which she often combines with metal, organic materials or found objects. “I’m interested in the tension between fragility and weight, transparency and opacity, impermanence and endurance,” she says. “In my work, I often bring traditional sculptural materials together with the particular qualities of glass – light, transparency, fragility and optical transformation.”

Her work draws on myths, dreams, memories and personal stories. “Narrative is important to me, but I don’t present it directly or in a linear way. Instead, I create situations in which reality merges with fiction, poetry with irony, and beauty with a certain sense of unease.”

Rose, by Alena Matejka. Photo: Ondřej Kocourek

Two artists, different visual languages

Alena showed Lars how to transform his stone sculptures into glass sculptures. It is a technically long and complicated process that includes silicone moulds, wax casting in the silicone mould and moulding of the wax casting, which is then boiled out in a steam bath so that the refractory mould becomes empty. Coloured glass is placed in the mould, heated to 870 degrees and then cooled in the glass furnace for a month or longer – depending on the size of the sculpture.

“With stone as an artistic material, it’s a much simpler and faster process. You have your work right in front of you and every chisel stroke or hand file becomes the finished surface of the sculpture,” says Lars. “However, stone doesn’t have the different colours and transparency that glass has. It’s also possible to make more copies this way.”

Although the artists discuss each other’s projects, they work independently. “Sculpting is often physically demanding and heavy, so we give each other a helping hand,” says Alena. “We sometimes exhibit together, but we’re basically two independent artists, each with our own visual language. The differences between our approaches are an important part of our collaboration. We don’t try to create pieces that look alike. Instead, we look for ways in which our work can communicate and complement one another.”

Upcoming joint exhibition in Prague

The artist couple divides their time between Sweden and the Czech Republic. Right now, Alena is completing one of her largest glass sculptures to date for the Imagine Museum in St. Petersburg, Florida, USA, whilst Lars is working on various separate exhibitions for Galleri Tom Stölting in Hamburg, Germany, Galleri Allmeningen in Bergen, Norway, and Galleri Kuzebauch in Prague, the Czech Republic.

Together, they are also preparing a permanent glass exhibition for the new glass museum at the Clam-Gallas Palace in the Czech capital of Prague, which will be part of the Prague City Museum. It is scheduled to open at the end of 2027.

“The exhibition will present our individual works, allowing visitors to experience two different approaches to glass, sculpture, material and narrative within the same space,” explains Alena. “The project is also special to us because of its location. The Clam-Gallas Palace is a historic building with a powerful atmosphere, and contemporary glass will enter into dialogue with both the architecture and the history of the palace.”