Eduard Ov膷谩膷ek: Grotesque (70鈥檚 鈥� 90鈥檚)
The artistic path of the versatile artist Eduard Ov膷谩膷ek (*1933) has been defined from the beginning by his interest in two thematic areas 鈥� the visual and poetic reflection of script and signs, for which the name Lettrism was established; and the possibilities of artistic interpretation of the human figure. The two thematic lines, developed in a wide range of artistic media (from printmaking, painting, drawing and collage through photography and photographics to sculpture and installation), are mutually intertwined and testify to the multifaceted and inventive personality of the artist and his keen interest in technological and artistic experimentation.
An interesting and hitherto not very often exhibited area of Ov膷谩膷ek鈥檚 work is represented by paintings and drawings in which the element of the grotesque asserts itself in the figural theme. Prominent examples include paintings and assemblages created during the 1970s and 1980s, in which the artist projected the mundaneness and absurdity of reality, the perversity of the kleptocracy, and the dullness and emptiness of public discourse. Typical examples include the paintings Stra拧idlo na hrad臎 (Ghost in the Castle, 1981) and Dva na tribun臎 (Two on the Tribunal, 1979) from the collections of Museum Kampa, in which the artist used quotations of national symbols to express the bizarreness and morass of the period in question.
Not only does Ov膷谩膷ek鈥檚 specific language of humour and exaggeration, very often laced with a note of tragicomic, sarcasm and vicious mirth, target the leaders of the contemporary regimes and the key moments of the dark era in Czechoslovak history; it also mirrors ordinary interpersonal relations and conditions, not only in the difficult times of 鈥榥ormalisation鈥� and the Communist rule, but also in the times of hastily acquired freedom in the early 1990s (Vesel媒 a 拧钮astn媒 mu啪 鈥� Kelt [The Celt: A Merry and Happy Man, 1990-1991).
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The artistic path of the versatile artist Eduard Ov膷谩膷ek (*1933) has been defined from the beginning by his interest in two thematic areas 鈥� the visual and poetic reflection of script and signs, for which the name Lettrism was established; and the possibilities of artistic interpretation of the human figure. The two thematic lines, developed in a wide range of artistic media (from printmaking, painting, drawing and collage through photography and photographics to sculpture and installation), are mutually intertwined and testify to the multifaceted and inventive personality of the artist and his keen interest in technological and artistic experimentation.
An interesting and hitherto not very often exhibited area of Ov膷谩膷ek鈥檚 work is represented by paintings and drawings in which the element of the grotesque asserts itself in the figural theme. Prominent examples include paintings and assemblages created during the 1970s and 1980s, in which the artist projected the mundaneness and absurdity of reality, the perversity of the kleptocracy, and the dullness and emptiness of public discourse. Typical examples include the paintings Stra拧idlo na hrad臎 (Ghost in the Castle, 1981) and Dva na tribun臎 (Two on the Tribunal, 1979) from the collections of Museum Kampa, in which the artist used quotations of national symbols to express the bizarreness and morass of the period in question.
Not only does Ov膷谩膷ek鈥檚 specific language of humour and exaggeration, very often laced with a note of tragicomic, sarcasm and vicious mirth, target the leaders of the contemporary regimes and the key moments of the dark era in Czechoslovak history; it also mirrors ordinary interpersonal relations and conditions, not only in the difficult times of 鈥榥ormalisation鈥� and the Communist rule, but also in the times of hastily acquired freedom in the early 1990s (Vesel媒 a 拧钮astn媒 mu啪 鈥� Kelt [The Celt: A Merry and Happy Man, 1990-1991).
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