Jan Merta
Three Lights
Artist
Jan Merta
(1952, Šumperk), Czech
Original Title
Three Lights
Date1985-1989
Mediumoil on canvas
Dimensions 80 × 95 cm
Classificationspaintings
Credit LineKunsthalle Praha
DescriptionJan Merta is among the most prominent Czech contemporary artists who began their career in the 1980s. At the time, Merta was part of the new generation of postmodernist artists, although he is quite an insular figure whose work is based on an idiosyncratic visual portrayal of his own experience of the world. His paintings often depict traditional themes such as figures and landscapes, but also explore questions regarding the artistic environment and the state of society. His canvases, marked by a reduction of shapes and an interplay of color and surface, are unique in their formal execution, which utilizes a degree of dematerialization, imbuing them with a fleeting, illusive quality. Apart from their visual content, identification of the motifs of Merta’s paintings is also aided by their titles, which provide a hint while simultaneously remaining general enough to leave space for the viewer’s own imaginative reading.
This painting titled Three Lights (1985-1989) was created during the second half of the 1980s and represents Merta’s early work. During this time, he developed a style which allowed him to retain a link to the physical world while also abandoning the rigidity of representational art, which he opposed throughout his studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague during the late years of the communist normalization. The red surface of the painting is interrupted by three black, vertically arranged dots emanating cones of red which blend into the background, giving the appearance of light sources. The backside of the painting contains a note documenting the feelings associated with four moments which Merta inscribed into the piece:
brick red
wiped surface
after returning from the hospital
August or September 1985
I didn’t know how to continue
bus ride
to the metro after visiting the Páneks
between 31. 8. and 1. 9. 86 – lights
black [dots] early spring 88
rays only in the winter (they were meant to be there right from the beginning)
better red
on the night between the years 1988 and 89
(J. Merta)
Jan Merta (*1952, Šumperk) studied in Oldřich Oplt and Jiří Ptáček’s studio at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague. Here, he met Petr Nikl, Antonín Střížek, Jiří David, and Tomáš Císařovský, with whom he partook in important exhibitions during the 1980s which helped form a new approach to the medium of painting (Konfrontace II, 1984; Konfrontace VI, 1987). Ever since his emergence onto the art scene, Merta’s work is frequently included in exhibitions mapping the evolution of Czech art in the past decades. In recent years, he has also had several solo exhibitions at institutions such as Museum Kampa in Prague, Prague City Gallery, and the Fait Gallery in Brno.
This painting titled Three Lights (1985-1989) was created during the second half of the 1980s and represents Merta’s early work. During this time, he developed a style which allowed him to retain a link to the physical world while also abandoning the rigidity of representational art, which he opposed throughout his studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague during the late years of the communist normalization. The red surface of the painting is interrupted by three black, vertically arranged dots emanating cones of red which blend into the background, giving the appearance of light sources. The backside of the painting contains a note documenting the feelings associated with four moments which Merta inscribed into the piece:
brick red
wiped surface
after returning from the hospital
August or September 1985
I didn’t know how to continue
bus ride
to the metro after visiting the Páneks
between 31. 8. and 1. 9. 86 – lights
black [dots] early spring 88
rays only in the winter (they were meant to be there right from the beginning)
better red
on the night between the years 1988 and 89
(J. Merta)
Jan Merta (*1952, Šumperk) studied in Oldřich Oplt and Jiří Ptáček’s studio at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague. Here, he met Petr Nikl, Antonín Střížek, Jiří David, and Tomáš Císařovský, with whom he partook in important exhibitions during the 1980s which helped form a new approach to the medium of painting (Konfrontace II, 1984; Konfrontace VI, 1987). Ever since his emergence onto the art scene, Merta’s work is frequently included in exhibitions mapping the evolution of Czech art in the past decades. In recent years, he has also had several solo exhibitions at institutions such as Museum Kampa in Prague, Prague City Gallery, and the Fait Gallery in Brno.
