Čestmír Suška entered the unofficial Czech art scene at the turn of the seventies and eighties. Along with his peers he represented a kind of conceptually oriented and slightly ambiguous level between 12.15 and Tvrdohlaví, the two groups lined with the traditional media of painting and sculpture. This fact is also illustrated by the fact that another of their important representatives, Ivan Kafka, became a member of 12.15, while Suška, born in the same year, was the oldest artist in the Tvrdohlaví group. Setting him within a historical context is important in his case because in the eighties he belonged to the organisers of the creative life of this “inter-generation”: for instance, he arranged “work meetings” in his village home in Malechov na Klatovsku (1980 and 1981) as well as the exhibition entitled Sculptures and Objects in the courtyards of Malá strana in Prague (1981), where artists of the older generation were represented. In both projects Suška presented spacious installations based on an existential feeling. Several theatrical principles in his work at that time appear. In 1981, along with two friends he founded the Creative Theatre Kolotoč, which linked visual elements (objects, masks, projections) with acting and background music. One of their performances became part of the feature film Pražská pětka by Tomáš Vorel.
Later, with a nod at a younger generation of artists, grotesquely coloured archetypal themes appear in his work, characteristic of Czech postmodernism. Initially reminiscent of primitive sculpture (e.g. stone heads of idols) or anthropomorphised cliffs in Czech towns set in rock, later they are based on the motif of dry wood or the living forest. At this time he also paints many pictures exploring similar themes (tree stumps, withered trees, snowy landscapes, etc.). Later in the nineties he creates sculptures from burned clay, more and more figurative in style, illuminated by an internal light which, combined with his materials, evokes an impression of a kiln. At the same time the light makes the internal construction visible and contrasts it with the smooth surface. This construction sometime later achieves independence as an autonomous sculptural theme in the form of a geometric network. At this time he also creates sculptures by hollowing out tree trunks, from which he leaves only an ornamentally structured peripheral frame (Large Messenger). In 2002 to 2005 he created series of sculptures made from molten glass in the specialist workshop of his colleague from Tvdohlaví, Zdeněk Lhotský (Studio Pelechov).
While from 1990 to 2005 wood predominates in his sculptures, during a working visit to Vermont, America (2005) he discovered metal along with a new method of working. He cuts ornamentally conceived patterns into found metal vessels (spheres, semi-spheres, cylindrical tanks), for which he often finds his inspiration in the designs of fabrics and everyday items. Later, in the Czech Republic he processes old tanks from the Smíchov brewery in the same way. This method of work preserves (and intensifies) the basic features of his previous work. In them the artist examines the interaction between internal and external space, and works with geometrically clean shapes and spatial decor. In the case of these vessels he leaves a natural patina of material – rust and the remains of paints – which makes reference back to their previous function. As well as this he works with cut out waste, from which he compiles surface installations on the ground, or welds or prints then on graphic paper.
He continues to be involved in organisational activities. Inspired by his stay at the Sculpture Space in Utica (NY, USA), in 2000 he founded the Bubec sculpture studio in the former warehouse in Řeporyje, which many other sculptors working on a large scale use. He also organises creative events here (Art Safari), within the context of which many monumental sculptures have already been created for Řeporyje and its surroundings.
