In my paintings from recent years, the central theme is the place and role of human beings, their search for meaning in the world, a kind of wonder and anxious concern about our fate, our past, and our uncertain future.
The characters are not real, natural figures. The robot-like, rusty, stone-like figures gradually take on geometric, motionless forms almost involuntarily. The origin is more realistic and true to life, constantly transforming, changing, and modifying. The variations are endless, but the composition of the works constantly features recurring main figures placed opposite each other at the edges.
Later, the figures are pushed to the center or to one side, growing together and belonging to each other. Their solidity is unbreakable, even if the two timeless main figures are complemented by several other characters. Despite their close relationship, they seek harmony, light, heavenly signs, and a solution to their relationship, and they discuss at length the problems and concerns of coldness and humanity. Their heads are often box-like or pyramid-shaped, and their bodies, ending at the torso, are fused together to form a unity. They are reminiscent of medieval armored knights, with antecedents in my expressive, beak-like, large-scale self-portraits from the 1980s, where the features of the face, eyes, and mouth are even more prominent.
The shapes have now become clearer and more geometric, but at the same time they are closer to traditional painting techniques. The lights, the shadows, the transitions are a struggle against massive inertia, a message to the disposable, automated, controlled new world of our age, which is irresistibly advancing at the expense of emotions and reason. The masked figures, even if they cannot see, feel and sense their surroundings, live and breathe, their souls are kindred. Their togetherness and their fate are unbreakable, which is why the references in the short, mostly one-word titles are important to me. The natural colors have recently been replaced by fresher pinks, blues, and yellows, also referring to the generational change.
Creation is the artist’s private matter, only they can dream it up and solve it. The work is the creator’s own opinion of a given era and its impact, which determines their state of mind; even if it does not depict anything specific, it is not a self-serving aesthetic game. We share the helplessness, dependence, obligations, and adaptations of the “average person,” which can also interfere with artistic freedom. Our relationship with someone or something defines our lives, our existence. I try to perceive the movement of the rapidly changing world from the outside, while longing for and thinking about a retreat into nature, which is no longer possible. I am interested in and sensitive to the living world, the weather, temperature, changes in our waters, the secrets of the deep sea trenches, the unknown infinite space, the continuous re-evaluation and rethinking of human history.
The forms of historical objects and the perception of nature’s evolution excite and delight me, as do the harmonious inner and outer worlds that meet, the influence of which is filtered through my creations.
KPB