Aleš Veselý was a Czech sculptor, graphic designer, painter, and a representative of Czech Informalism. He graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague. In 1960, he organised the private exhibition Confrontation II in his studio, where he exhibited the works of artists, including himself, who were followers of Informalism. The work of these actors was radically different to that of the official cultural policy. Aleš Veselý’s first solo exhibition was held in 1963 at the Umělecká Beseda Gallery of Young Artists. From 1967 to 1968, during the Symposium of Simple Forms in Ostrava, he created his most famous sculpture, Kaddish (also known under the title A Prayer for the Dead). He was banned from exhibiting during Normalization and lived privately. He focused mainly on monumental works where he turned to the roots of Judaism and the search for the meaning of existence. He began to exhibit his work again after 1989. He taught at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague and at the J. E. Purkyně University in Ústí nad Labem. He created several sculptures across the globe.
Malý, Zbyšek, and Alena Malá, eds. 2008. Slovník českých a slovenských výtvarných umělců 1950-2008Sv. 19 V–Vik. Ostrava: Výtvarné centrum Chagall, 285–287.
Artlist.cz. 2019. "Aleš Veselý." Accessed January 10. https://www.artlist.cz/ales-vesely-1207/.
Veselý, Aleš, and Michal Schonberg. 2006. Projdi tou branou!: rozhovory s Alešem Veselým. Praha: Torst.
Horová, Anděla, ed. 1995. Nová encyklopedie českého výtvarného umění. Sv. 2 N–Ž. Praha: Academia, 902–903.
