TOMÁŠ CÍSAŘOVSKÝ: Intention and a Slight Coincidence
16 Dec 2016 – 6 Mar 2017
The subtitle of Tomáš Císařovský exhibition could perhaps read: Everything You Wanted to See from the Life of President Václav Havel, but...
This is because the focal point of the exhibition consists of Císařovský’s newest series of ten paintings, created between 2012 and 2016, which portray various moments from the life of the playwright, author, dissident, and our first post-revolutionary president in an original manner. In this large-format (200 x 150 cm) “biographical” series, the painter continues in his long-term resolution to return traditional artistic genres like portraiture and historical painting to the artistic scene, synthesizing the current experience of contemporary art with the venerable tradition of Western painting.
This is because the focal point of the exhibition consists of Císařovský’s newest series of ten paintings, created between 2012 and 2016, which portray various moments from the life of the playwright, author, dissident, and our first post-revolutionary president in an original manner. In this large-format (200 x 150 cm) “biographical” series, the painter continues in his long-term resolution to return traditional artistic genres like portraiture and historical painting to the artistic scene, synthesizing the current experience of contemporary art with the venerable tradition of Western painting.
In some ways, but in an entirely different and new fashion, the “Havel”
series
continues in the tradition of the “Legionnaire” and “Masaryk”
series that brought Císařovský fame at the end of the 1980s
, when he
became one of the most prominent personalities of the newly-arrived
post-modern generation. Images from our Czechoslovak history then made
regular appearances in Císařovský’s work, be they moments from World War
II, the 1950s, or the Normalization era.
In the Havel series, Císařovský did not stick to just paintings, but also created a large series of pen and wash works on paper showing a number of other moments from the life of the president, from childhood to the end of his life. Overall, it is a unique, surprising, and attractive image-based “chronicle” of Havel’s life that is intended for all who are capable of looking at the world dispassionately and with an open mind.
In the Havel series, Císařovský did not stick to just paintings, but also created a large series of pen and wash works on paper showing a number of other moments from the life of the president, from childhood to the end of his life. Overall, it is a unique, surprising, and attractive image-based “chronicle” of Havel’s life that is intended for all who are capable of looking at the world dispassionately and with an open mind.
Curator: Martin Dostál
From the beginning of his art career, painter Tomáš Císařovský (1962) has devoted himself mainly to oil painting. His series of paintings with historical or social relevance, such as From The Diary of My Grandfather The Legionnaire, on the marches of Czechoslovak legionnaires in Russia, a series of portraits of “restituted” Czech nobles, entitled No Horses, portraits of physically handicapped individuals from the end of the 1990s, or his series of paintings, Stale Time, depicting stars of normalization-era pop music, intermingle with an intimate layer of his work – with paintings from his private world. Tomáš Císařovský’s works have been exhibited at solo and group shows at a number of galleries at home and abroad.
www.cisarovsky.cz
From the beginning of his art career, painter Tomáš Císařovský (1962) has devoted himself mainly to oil painting. His series of paintings with historical or social relevance, such as From The Diary of My Grandfather The Legionnaire, on the marches of Czechoslovak legionnaires in Russia, a series of portraits of “restituted” Czech nobles, entitled No Horses, portraits of physically handicapped individuals from the end of the 1990s, or his series of paintings, Stale Time, depicting stars of normalization-era pop music, intermingle with an intimate layer of his work – with paintings from his private world. Tomáš Císařovský’s works have been exhibited at solo and group shows at a number of galleries at home and abroad.
www.cisarovsky.cz
