Jan Koblasa
King XV Death
Artist
Jan Koblasa
(1932, Tábor - 2017, Hamburg), Czech
Original Title
King XV Death
Date1962
Mediumstained elm
Dimensions 90 × 23 × 17 cm
Classificationssculpture
Credit LineKunsthalle Praha
DescriptionJan Koblasa was a Czech sculptor who also worked with painting, writing, graphic design as well as being a university professor. His art is permeated by symbols and signs signaling a return to myths and archetypes, which he saw as a conceptual foundation for existential self-awareness within the surrounding chaos. His close engagement with the language of myths and archetypes allowed Koblasa to keep a distance from the harsh reality of life under the communist regime. His art is commonly associated with the Czech art informel movement of the 1960s, which opened a space for artists to express their dismay with modernism as well as with the conditions of everyday life in Czechoslovakia. After emigrating to Germany in 1968, his work became stylistically elusive, marked by highly expressive qualities and eventually moving toward an unbounded sculptural style. A constant oscillation between figurative and abstract elements imbues his sculptures with a characteristic dramatic tension which amplifies their inner urgency. Another characteristic feature of Kolbasa’s practice is an emphasis on the materiality of his works.
King XV Death (1962) dates from Koblasa’s early career, associated with art informel. Koblasa began creating hieratic sculptures of kings and other mythological and archetypal figures in 1962. Their verticality, frontal orientation, and intentionally primitivized roughness resembles religious idols, with subtle strokes and hasty incisions transforming the sculptural surface into an organic tissue. The wooden surface is subsequently burnt, with fire representing a purifying element leaving behind a naked, perforated corporeal shell. The process of carving and damaging evokes deeply existential and subconscious associations linked to the nature of Czech art informel. The abstracted figure of a king embodies the archetypal and mythological layers of our memory and symbolizes themes of solitude, strength, weakness, and power, the metaphorical dimensions of which Koblasa saw as an analogy to the contemporary living conditions.
Jan Koblasa (1932, Tábor – 2017, Hamburg) studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague from 1952 to 1958. Already during his studies, he partook in underground exhibitions which opposed the official art displays organized by the communist regime. This political orientation also led him to partake in the Dadaism-inspired art group Šmidrové, the members of which shared an inclination towards absurdity, bizarreness, sarcasm, and dark humor. In 1960, he played an important role in organizing two renowned underground exhibitions—Konfrontace I, in Jiří Valenta’s studio, and Konfrontace II, in the Aleš Veselý’s—which displayed nonrepresentational art. Together with Jaroslav Vožniak, Bedřich Dlouhý, and Karel Nepraš, he cofounded the art group Šmidrové. In 1968, Kolbasa emigrated to Italy and later to Germany, ultimately settling in Hamburg. From 1969 to 1998, he headed the Studio of Free Sculpture at the Muthesius Fachhochschule in Kiel. Between 2002 and 2005, he also taught sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague. Koblasa’s work has been exhibited in numerous countries and is included in several museums and collections. To mark his 80th birthday in 2012, the Neues Museum in Nuremberg hosted his solo exhibition; a retrospective exhibition was also held at the Prague Castle.
King XV Death (1962) dates from Koblasa’s early career, associated with art informel. Koblasa began creating hieratic sculptures of kings and other mythological and archetypal figures in 1962. Their verticality, frontal orientation, and intentionally primitivized roughness resembles religious idols, with subtle strokes and hasty incisions transforming the sculptural surface into an organic tissue. The wooden surface is subsequently burnt, with fire representing a purifying element leaving behind a naked, perforated corporeal shell. The process of carving and damaging evokes deeply existential and subconscious associations linked to the nature of Czech art informel. The abstracted figure of a king embodies the archetypal and mythological layers of our memory and symbolizes themes of solitude, strength, weakness, and power, the metaphorical dimensions of which Koblasa saw as an analogy to the contemporary living conditions.
Jan Koblasa (1932, Tábor – 2017, Hamburg) studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague from 1952 to 1958. Already during his studies, he partook in underground exhibitions which opposed the official art displays organized by the communist regime. This political orientation also led him to partake in the Dadaism-inspired art group Šmidrové, the members of which shared an inclination towards absurdity, bizarreness, sarcasm, and dark humor. In 1960, he played an important role in organizing two renowned underground exhibitions—Konfrontace I, in Jiří Valenta’s studio, and Konfrontace II, in the Aleš Veselý’s—which displayed nonrepresentational art. Together with Jaroslav Vožniak, Bedřich Dlouhý, and Karel Nepraš, he cofounded the art group Šmidrové. In 1968, Kolbasa emigrated to Italy and later to Germany, ultimately settling in Hamburg. From 1969 to 1998, he headed the Studio of Free Sculpture at the Muthesius Fachhochschule in Kiel. Between 2002 and 2005, he also taught sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague. Koblasa’s work has been exhibited in numerous countries and is included in several museums and collections. To mark his 80th birthday in 2012, the Neues Museum in Nuremberg hosted his solo exhibition; a retrospective exhibition was also held at the Prague Castle.
