Zbyšek Sion – Aleš Veselý – Jan Koblasa – Vladimír
Boudník
The exhibition presents a donation from the painter Zbyšek
Sion to the National Gallery in Prague – a collection of early abstract
drawings from the early 1960s, accompanied by works by artists from the circle
of Czech Art Informel from the collections of the NGP, structural graphics by
Aleš Veselý and Vladimír Boudník, and artworks by Jan Koblasa.
A turning point for these young artists came in 1960
at two private exhibitions in Prague entitled Confrontation, held in the
seclusion of artists’ studios – at the studio of Jiří Valenta in the spring,
and at the studio of Aleš Veselý in the autumn. The painter Zbyšek Sion also
showed his works at the latter.
These artists rejected traditional themes and
approaches. Together, they turned their attention to structural abstraction.
Using original techniques and raw interventions into the material of the
painting, they expressed their feelings of oppression of the times in an
internal and cultural revolt against the omnipresent vacuity of
totalitarianism. Vladimír Boudník’s radical approaches played a crucial part, as did
the expressive possibilities of active and structural graphics as imprints of
both external and internal worlds. By stigmatising and wounding the surface of
the painting, the artists reflected the existential struggle of humanity. Aleš
Veselý created archetypal images and objects resembling relics, while Jan
Koblasa reacted to the deep crisis of the time through a search for transcendence.
Zbyšek Sion painted telluric landscapes, explored the structures beneath the
horizon, and the geographical layers of earth forming subjective maps of inner
conflicts. For a while, Sion’s figural production retreated into the
background, only to be reborn with new vigour, supported by this important
lesson from Art Informel.
Venue: Graphic Arts Cabinet, Trade Fair Palace, 2nd
floor, exhibition 1939–2021: The End of the Black-and-White Era
Curator: Adriana Šmejkalová
