Jiří Kovanda
Untitled (Without Words)
Artist
Jiří Kovanda
(1953, Praha), Czech
Original Title
Untitled (Without Words)
Date1977
Mediumpencil and red marker on paper
Dimensions41,9 × 29,7 cm
Classificationsdrawings
Credit LineKunsthalle Praha
DescriptionJiří Kovanda is an internationally renowned Czech conceptual artist. His subtle, discreet performances and site-specific installations and objects explore the connection between life and art and simultaneously demonstrate his intuitive ability to react to contemporary societal sentiments. His tendencies toward intimacy and lyricism as well as his use of humor and irony imbue his works with an unmistakable style. In the mid-1970s, Kovanda organized happenings in Prague’s public spaces during which he suppressed his natural shyness and attempted to establish interpersonal contacts. These events, which were documented through black-and-white photographs with typewritten descriptions and have since become legendary, expose an apathetic and atomized society affected by the process of communist normalization. In the late 1970s, Kovanda’s practice shifted from such happenings to minimalist installations in public space which are only visible to those aware of them due to their inconspicuousness and mundane materiality. In the 1980s, he primarily focused on painting in the styles of neoexpressionism and Neo-Geo. His fusion of comic book elements with modernist artwork marked an original postmodernist approach in which he utilized his grasp of collage, irony, and art history. In the following years, he returned to creating objects, collages, and assemblages rooted in minimalist approaches. A characteristic DIY dimension and the use of everyday objects lend these works a distinctive aesthetic quality. Following the turn of the millennium, Kovanda has also returned to occasionally organizing happenings (e.g., Kissing Through Glass, Tate Modern, 2007).
Untitled (Without Words) (1977) is part of Kovanda’s series of drawings on grid paper, created during the same time as his early happenings in the urban environment. The works in this series explore the potential of connecting conceptual thought with bodily actions as well as the possibility of working at the boundaries of drawing as an identifiable artform. The use of utilitarian grid paper disrupts the traditional minimalist approach of treating the artwork as an insular entity. The interruption of the black horizontal line by a tear and a subtle misalignment of the resultant two pieces of paper introduces an aspect of processuality, and the author’s note at the bottom edge of the sheet temporally and spatially anchors the piece.
Jiří Kovanda (*1952, Prague) is a self-taught artist who found his path to art during the difficult era of communist normalization, marked by the curtailing of civil liberties. One of the main influences in the development of his artistic practice was an exhibition of Marcel Duchamp’s work in the Václav Špála Gallery (1969), one of the last events channeling the freedom of the 1960s. Despite limited opportunities, Kovanda continued to learn about Western conceptualism. He was also influenced by his visit to Poland in the mid-1970s, which helped him establish ties with Prague’s conceptualist circles, including figures such as Petr Štembera, Karel Miler, and Jan Mlčoch. In the second half of the 1970s, he became part of the underground art scene while simultaneously working at the depository of the National Gallery, where he started in 1972. During the 1980s, he took part in underground exhibitions titled Konfrontace, which were formative for the postmodernist current of Czech painting. From 1995 to 2018, he was a painting assistant in Vladimír Skrepl’s studio at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague. During this time, he was already a respected figure in the context of Czech art, with his subtle aesthetic inspiring the new generation of artists. This popularity also has generated a wider interest in his early conceptual work, which has now received international recognition. His work was displayed at Documenta 12 in Kassel (2007) and as part of Transmissions: Art in Eastern Europe and Latin America, 1960-1980 (Museum of Modern Art, New York City, 2015-2016). He has also had solo exhibitions at institutions such as the Wiener Secession (2010) and the Reina Sofia in Madrid (2012). His work is held in the collections of the Centre Pompidou and the Tate Modern.
Untitled (Without Words) (1977) is part of Kovanda’s series of drawings on grid paper, created during the same time as his early happenings in the urban environment. The works in this series explore the potential of connecting conceptual thought with bodily actions as well as the possibility of working at the boundaries of drawing as an identifiable artform. The use of utilitarian grid paper disrupts the traditional minimalist approach of treating the artwork as an insular entity. The interruption of the black horizontal line by a tear and a subtle misalignment of the resultant two pieces of paper introduces an aspect of processuality, and the author’s note at the bottom edge of the sheet temporally and spatially anchors the piece.
Jiří Kovanda (*1952, Prague) is a self-taught artist who found his path to art during the difficult era of communist normalization, marked by the curtailing of civil liberties. One of the main influences in the development of his artistic practice was an exhibition of Marcel Duchamp’s work in the Václav Špála Gallery (1969), one of the last events channeling the freedom of the 1960s. Despite limited opportunities, Kovanda continued to learn about Western conceptualism. He was also influenced by his visit to Poland in the mid-1970s, which helped him establish ties with Prague’s conceptualist circles, including figures such as Petr Štembera, Karel Miler, and Jan Mlčoch. In the second half of the 1970s, he became part of the underground art scene while simultaneously working at the depository of the National Gallery, where he started in 1972. During the 1980s, he took part in underground exhibitions titled Konfrontace, which were formative for the postmodernist current of Czech painting. From 1995 to 2018, he was a painting assistant in Vladimír Skrepl’s studio at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague. During this time, he was already a respected figure in the context of Czech art, with his subtle aesthetic inspiring the new generation of artists. This popularity also has generated a wider interest in his early conceptual work, which has now received international recognition. His work was displayed at Documenta 12 in Kassel (2007) and as part of Transmissions: Art in Eastern Europe and Latin America, 1960-1980 (Museum of Modern Art, New York City, 2015-2016). He has also had solo exhibitions at institutions such as the Wiener Secession (2010) and the Reina Sofia in Madrid (2012). His work is held in the collections of the Centre Pompidou and the Tate Modern.
Milan Knížák
1977-1981
