Jan Merta

• 11.06.–31.07.2010

Jan Merta is one of the most important Czech artists of our day. Merta works with classical image motifs. He shows everyday objects, which 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. Mertareturns 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.”

“Merta builds each painting as a completely independent entity and its subject matter, composition, meaning and execution aspire to send a special message, to build a universe of its own. The artist does not strive to create a ‘style’ that will encompass the totality of the world and become a cipher of the universe in a modernistic (or romantic) spirit, rather he works within an originality which, at any one moment, commands a specific approach and effect.” (Marek Pokorný)