BIO
Mr. Kralik has been sculpting for over 40 years. A native of Bethlehem, PA, he now resides in Spinnerstown, Bucks County, where his sculpture is on display in a barn and on the grounds.
His pieces are welded steel, usually non-objective and, since the early 1980s, predominantly stainless steel. They typically show an interplay of stainless steel and the light reflecting from it, an elegant yet playful use of form, and a love of craftmanship.
“I like people-size sculpture, or sculpture which makes you look up toward the sky just a little,” says Kralik to explain his usual seven, eight, and nine-foot tall pieces. He often makes pedestal-sized pieces, however; and outdoor commissions in Bethlehem, PA and Lansdale, PA have been 15 and 20 feet high, respectively.
In a review of a 1998 Kralik exhibition at the James A. Michener Museum, professor Burton Wasserman wrote “...the sculptures greet visitors with a quiet dignity and timeless reserve.”
Mr. Kralik has been on the Board of Directors of the Lehigh Art Alliance since 1975, was president for 13 years, and was on the Board of Trustees of Leonardo da Vinci's Horse, Inc. from 1993 to 2003.
Mr. Kralik's sculptures are in numerous private collections and in the permanent collections of the James A. Michener Museum in Doylestown, PA, and Woodmere Art Museum in Philadelphia. They also stand on the grounds of Friends' Hospital in Philadelphia and the campus of Bryn Mawr College, at 100 North Main Corporate Center, Lansdale, PA, at Technicolor Grand Spa in Bethlehem, PA and at Commerce Corporate Center, Allentown, PA. Mr. Kralik had a one-man show at Woodmere Art Museum, Philadelphia, in 2003, and has also placed large-scale commissions on the campus of Penn State Berks in Reading, PA, and at the Sierra Building, Stabler Corporate Center, Center Valley, PA.
Mr Kralik can be found in the welding shop on his property at work on new ideas.