MAREK SLAVIK

marek-slavik-rebirth_100x135cm_acrylic_and_oil_painting_on_canvas_presented-by-knupp-gallery-los-angeles SELECTED IMAGES
 

Marek is one of the artists which went through all art schools in Prague. Starting in 1998, finishing in 2008 at the Academy of Fine Arts, studio of classic painting. Marek´s creation could be divided into two main parts: figurative and landscape.

Figures on his paintings always have particular expressions in their faces, telling a story and point of existence of the artwok. Landscape is usually prehistoric, forrest type or a swamp. While looking at the swamp you can feel the humidity and plants growing on the canvas.

The beginning and the end of the world. This cycle aims to objectively and very specifically reflect the world which was awarded to us for use. The world that we are thoughtlessly liquidating, the world in which we are complicatedly finding our place and ourselves. We can deny and destroy everything on the planet which has formed and evolved for millions of years in the blink of an eye through our unwillingness to think in a broader context and our boundless desire for domination over nature and over ourselves.

Emergence of life (biogenesis) is currently not a fully clarified event, during which the inanimate matter became living matter, which began to proliferate, develop and transform their surroundings. It is a scientific, philosophical and religious question, in which each party tries to present his theory or evidence about how this event occurred. I present to you my painted-vision from the Big Bang through the emergence of life on earth and the onset of man and his inevitable end.

 

The cycle begins with dark, abstractly processed paintings with the creation of the universe and matter. Colorful abstraction show the origin of life on Earth which is followed by a series of realistically conceived prehistoric landscapes (swamps) associated with small paintings of developing animals. Then a man comes on the scene. Here the gas mask becomes a central motif reflecting the current efforts to gain power and domination over key territories of our world and more than this. The gas mask also demonstrates the distance of person as an individual from natural harmony with the world, where a lord of the world is using a gas mask to protect himself against the consequences of his actions. Bodies in heroic poses emphasize the toxic cloud which symbolizes, even in it’s faint outline, a dying patient’s heart or the slow death and dissolution of our planet.

A few female portraits accompany the exhibition with strong expressive gestures symbolizing human indifference, ignorance, arrogance and superiority, which are mere than usual in today’s word and which lead us by leaps and bounds towards our end.

EDUCATION UPCOMING EXHIBITIONS (US)
2002-2008 Academy of Fine Arts in Prague – studio of classical painting techniques of Prof. Zdenek Beran 2016 Oct 15 Grand Opening of knupp gallery LA (1923 Santa Fe Ave, 90021, LA)
1998-2002 Secondary high school of Vaclav Hollar in Prague 2017  Jan 11 – 15 LA Art Show 2017 (Convention Center, LA)
PAST EXHIBITIONS (US)
2016 Jan 27 – 31 LA Art Show 2016, Convention Center, Los Angeles
2015 Sept 22 – Oct 19 Czech-IN LA (Bergamot Station, 2525 Michigan Ave, Santa Monica) in collaboration with Building Bridges Art Exchange gallery