A bird has landed in front of the Bled Congress Centre — another grand sculpture by Slavko Oblak, echoing the style of the artist’s other sculptures that stand in the lakeside park and within the grounds of Bled Castle. The sculpture, viewed alongside the Congress Centre, appears as a unified symbol of creativity. The connection between these symbols is not difficult to discern, born as they are from the efforts of generations of cultural workers on the one hand, and the artist’s donation as a gesture of homage and respect to his birth town on the other. The academically trained sculptor Slavko Oblak worked and lived for most of his creative life near Landshut, Austria, on an idyllic farm, where he also set up a foundry for his bronze sculptures. It was there that the artist cast the Bird of Bled, one of the many sculptures that demonstrate the harmonious relationship with the places that inspired them. The Bird of Bled was created back in 1977 and was originally titled Bathing Adler (‘Adler’ is German for eagle). The sculpture is cast in an urban, dynamic organic form, reminiscent of a bird.
Bled’s most recent artistic acquisition is a large-format sculpture that exudes monumental presence, combining physical grandeur with the graceful composition of a bird at play in water. One wing is raised, the other is against the body. The head is turned to the side, with one foot and wing resting on the ground. The entire composition is imbued with the characteristic tension unique to Oblak’s figures, evoking a sense of movement.
Visibly barely at ease, the bird’s energy is captured in the fundamental forms and motions of the body, stylised in the manner of Henry Moore, through a similar interplay of negative and positive space. The rough, uneven surface of the sculpture conveys a sense of pulsating corporeality and even plumage. Oblak has created a magnificent sculptural work, representing a new type of bird that radiates inner life and warmth through its pulsating forms, embodying the playful ease shared by humans and animals alike.
The sculpture was unveiled on 25th May 2024, in honour of the artist’s 90th birthday.
Each sculpture is part of a greater story. Begin your journey by discovering it in the introductory video.