Jan Merta

Jan Merta
Proporce (Proportions), 2005
Acrylic on canvas
41,2 x 48 cm

Jan Merta
V jeho kuzi (In his skin) E.T., IV, 2005-06
Acrylic on canvas
125 x 396 cm

Jan Merta
Do slunce (To the sun), 1997-2006
Acrylic on canvas
200 x 241 cm

Jan Merta
Idealni zarici V (Ideal glowing V), 2005
Oil on canvas
275 x 211 cm

Jan Merta
Ausstellungsansicht Galerie Martin Janda, 2006

Jan Merta
Still life with lying, sitting and walking person, 2005
Oil on hardboard
22,5 x 18 x 4,4 cm

Jan Merta
Odvazna pestitelka (The brave gardener), 2005
Oil on canvas
45,5 x 55,5 cm

Jan Merta
Predpoklady rustu I (Preconditions for growth I), 2004-2005
Oil on canvas
45,3 x 55,5 cm

Jan Merta
Exhibition view, Galerie Martin Janda, 2006

Jan Merta
Ausstellungsansicht Galerie Martin Janda, 2006

Jan Merta
Domacky obzor (Home horizon), 2005
Acrylic on canvas
45,5 x 55,5 cm

Jan Merta
Domacky obzor (Home horizon), 2005
Acrylic on canvas
45,5 x 55,5 cm

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From January 17 until March 4, 2006, Galerie Martin Janda is showing works by the painter Jan Merta, who is based in Prague. Merta, born in 1952, is one of the Czech Republic’s most important contemporary artists. On the gallery’s ground floor are three large-format oil and acrylic paintings; on the upper floor a selection of smaller works offers a glimpse into the artist’s extremely complex oeuvre. 

Merta returns again and again to individual themes; often numerous variations of the same title ensue. The differences are usually minimal, but significant in content: “I work with variations to get closer to the theme.” (Jan Merta). In his Skin (E.T.) (2006) is already the fourth variation of this motif. The work’s title refers to the well-known extra-terrestrial being from the movie of the same name by Steven Spielberg. However, point of departure for the artist’s motif selection was The Body of the Dead Christ in the Tomb (1521) by Hans Holbein (Kunstmuseum Basel). Merta takes up this fascinating motif and attempts to free it from its restrictive iconography, to relieve it of its gravity and to thematize with a light, transparent-wash painting technique the transformation of life.
Ideal Radiant (2005) also explores the variation of a theme - two works from this series are part of the collection at Prague’s National Gallery. The painting depicts a large head, shifted slightly below the central axis. The colors are transparent, translucent. The facial expression seems oddly removed, as if lifeless, and recalls an ideal, computer-generated image, alternating between realistic and artificial. Jan Merta wanted to paint identical images. At first the differences are in fact barely noticeable; however, upon closer inspection they become clear and meaningful.

Merta works with classical image motifs. He shows everyday objects; vases, hats, shopping bags, faces, animals are his points of departure. They are transformed with respect to technique and content, and abstracted, their original meaning extracted. Merta’s painting always remains reserved. Through the small gestures, painterly details and often humorous titles, recognizable things are imbued with complex content.

1952 born in Sumperk (CZ)
1981-1987 studied at the Art Academy in Prague (CZ)
Lives and works in Prague and České Lhotice (CZ)