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Complex minimalism Veteran Czech artist continues his explorations
For The Prague Post April 14, 2005 The first Czech artist to collaborate with the computer, Zdenek Sykora is a big name internationally as well as at home. Now 85, he maintains an impressive output, with six large paintings from the past year currently on view at Galerie Zdenek Sklenar. Sykora's signature style literally resembles a signature. Thick, tubelike lines curve and overlap randomly, drawing the eye around the composition and beyond the edges of the canvas. While Sykora's previous work emphasized boisterous colors and thick, tubelike shapes, he is now taking his paintings in a more minimalist direction, with darker colors and thinner lines. In this new work, negative space has become more important, acting as volumes where previously the tubes served as volumes. These pieces also emphasize openness and constant movement. In his new work Sykora continues to refine a process he developed in the 1960s, in which a computer helps to design compositions after the artist inputs certain parameters. The computer generates points on a grid that determine the trajectory of lines, and then Sykora decides where to crop the compositions, chooses colors and line thickness, and meticulously paints each line. Today many people use computers to create art, but the output is usually digital. Sykora remains true to the craft of painting for his final product, grounding his explorations of chance and randomness in precision. In short, he uses a very complex means to achieve something very minimalistic.
Sykora's work could be compared to that of his contemporary, Karel Malich. In fact, according to the show's curator, Veronika Hudeckova, there was a period during which these two artists did not meet so as to avoid influencing each other's work. But where Malich constantly reinvented his exploration of lines and space in several different media, notably wire sculptures, Sykora has stayed within stricter parameters of medium and execution. In Sykora's work, consistency is more important than innovation, science more revered than Malich's divine "inner light." Sykora's compositions are pleasing, especially in their use of negative space. Like Mondrian, Sykora explores a modernist sensibility of color, light and form, creating something emotive on the pure level of composition. But overall, his work appeals more to the intellect than to the emotions. The viewer may ask what, after 40 years, is this persistent exploration revealing? Is it still a vigorous exploration or has it become formulaic? Are these paintings evidence of the artist's talent or of the computer's capabilities? That said, this show is a testimony to Sykora's discipline and perseverance, especially at an age when most artists have long since put away their brushes. Given the artist's status and ongoing popularity at home and abroad, these images will no doubt speak to and inspire some viewers. Kristin Barendsen can be reached at features@praguepost.com
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