Jan Valik
Degree: MFA
University: Academy of Fine Arts in Prague, Czech Republic
Graduation Year: 2012
New Blood Art Statement
Everyone goes cock-a-hoop for Claude Monet’s Pale Water Lillies; think back to that canvas known for embracing every migraine or eye floater that’s ever fogged your vision. With this in mind take a look at a young artist named Jan Valik whose shapes and colours are as strange as they are delightfully hypnotic. 'Look Back', a simplistic (but profoundly effective) abstract-landscape seems to channel those ethereal, almost non-colours of Monet’s Pale Water Lillies, with a striking coil of pale yellow/near neon winding through spectral hills. The overall affect is to transport the beholder to somewhere private and perfectly peaceful.
However, if we turn to another of Valik’s pieces, such as 'Half-forgotten Past (Tempest)',it is almost as though we are witnessing a different artist - almost, Valik’s bold marks made in eye-catching oils are what make him uniquely recognisable. If 'Half-forgotten Past (Tempest)', was a song, it would probably be a hip-hop track, with church bells, a samba beat, and featuring Sinead O'Connor... - it’s just that outlandish. A brilliant clash of colours showcase Valik as he comes into his stride as an artist. In a subtle way, the piece appears to tip its hat to the godfather of all sullen chattels, Edgar Allan Poe. A shadowy suggestion towards the upper left corner of the piece appears to take the form of a raven: ‘for the rare and radiant,’ laments Poe; rare and radiant seem like apt word choices when trying to decide how to describe Valik’s work. One could almost draw parallels between his work and those of influential conceptual artist, Mary Heilmann, such as her 2000 piece, 'Rompe Cabeza Uno'. The pair both have the ability to apply fearless brushstrokes to a canvas and create fascinating shapes that don’t just build a scene, but a story.
A fierce new artist, who describes himself as: "deeply interested in brushwork" and intrigued by the concept of "painting as a principle and a method of thinking in an effort for the metamorphosis of a trace into a vision." The work of Jan Valik is definitely worth lingering over.
Artist Statement
Between abstract landscape and narrative space in painting I seek the edge of perception oscillating between awareness of space and flatness of the brushwork.
Within my painting approach I am interested in bridging the Western and Eastern principles of perception where abstract and real space are simultaneously seen as complementary components. Calligraphic spontaneity along with careful construction of pictorial space, the coexistence of motion and stillness.
My intuitive as well as conceptual focus is on double image of outer and inner aspects of landscape intentionally lacking certainty of a one way of reading. Balancing the perception of space without polarizing its inner and outer aspects opens its further associative and metaphorical qualities.
Fluidly connected to both abstract and figurative, I am deeply interested in brushwork as both inner and outer motion. It leads me to painting as a principle and a method of thinking in an effort for the metamorphosis of a trace into a vision.
Solo Exhibitions
2020, Verge, Husk Gallery, Brussels, Belgium
2019, Abstract Reality and Temporary Neighborhoods, Industra Art, Brno, Czech Republic
2019, Night walk - Day sleep, Gallery Medium, Bratislava, Slovakia
2019, Triple vision, Cin Cin Gallery, Bratislava, Slovakia
2018, Inner weather, Chisou Gallery, Komono, Japan
2018, Uncertain territories, ABC Gallery, Bratislava, Slovakia
2017, Kago, Flatgallery, Bratislava, Slovakia
2017, Plethora and a quet world, Niche Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
2016, Drawings, Art Centre Hole in the world, Liptovsky Mikulas, Slovakia
2016, Fragile garden, Art Space Nov, Pardubice, Czech Republic
2015, Situation, Pavilon Gallery, Prague, Czech Republic
2014, Light has no colour, Stolen Gallery, Nitra, Slovakia
2014, Invisible body, Gallery of Pan-European University, Bratislava, Slovakia
2014, Inbetween Branching, Cit Gallery, Bratislava, Slovakia
2013, Et In Arcadia Ego, Cecilia!, Slovak Philharmony, Bratislava, Slovakia
2012, Walkwell, CC Centrum Gallery, Bratislava, Slovakia
2011, Tempted / To linger, Gallery AVU, Prague, Czech Republic
Group Exhibitions
2019, Room with a View, Niche Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
2019, Muster Actions, Star Art Gallery, Sichuan Academy of Fine Arts, Chongqing, China
2019, Expansion of Reality, Gallery Amart, Vienna, Austria
2019, Anonymous drawings archive, Kunsthaus Kannen, Munster, Germany
2018, Plain Air Valdis Bušs, Mark Rothko Art Center, Daugavpils, Latvia
2017, Winter Selection, Flatgallery, Bratislava, Slovakia
2017, Tao Hua Tan, Gallery of Xuancheng Library, Xuancheng, China
2017, Valdis Bušs, Municipal Gallery, Vilaka, Latvia
2017, Floating Fellows, Motoazabu Gallery, Saku, Japan
2017, Slovak art, Gallery of French Institute, Bratislava, Slovakia
2017, L’art Slovaquie, Gallery of Cité internationale des Arts, Paris, France
2016, “2016”, DOT. Contemporary, Bratislava, Slovakia
2016, Subtilities, DOT. Contemporary, Bratislava, Slovakia
2016, Winter selection, Flatgallery, Bratislava, Slovakia
2016, Finalists of Painting 2016, Nedbalka Gallery, Bratislava, Slovakia
2016, Open studios, BankART, Yokohama, Japan
2015, Scent of outside, Atelier Sin, Telc, Czech Republic
2015, disJOINTED, MauMau Gallery, Istanbul, Turkey
2015, Finalists of Painting 2015, Nedbalka Gallery, Bratislava, Slovakia
2015, Na hranici – Grenznah, Skolska 28 Gallery, Prague, Czech Republic
2015, Na hranici – Grenznah, Skolska 28 Gallery, Prague, Czech Republic
2015, Pop-up, Kargart Gallery, Istanbul, Turkey
2014, Young Art Show, House of Arts, Piestany, Slovakia
2014, Drawing Box, Associazione Culturale Luci e Ombre, Bologna, Italy
2013, Drawing Box, Ranelagh Arts Centre, Dublin, Ireland
2013, Drawing Box, Crescent Arts Centre, Belfast, Northern Ireland
2013, Beyond That Place, Gallery AVU, Prague, Czech Republic
2013, Anonymous Drawings, Galerie Delikatessenhaus, Leipzig, Germany
2013, Anonymous Drawings, Galerie Nord/Kunstverein Tiergarten, Berlin, Germany
2012, Diplomanti, National Gallery in Prague, Prague, Czech Republic
2012, First Salon of Painting, DOX Centre for Contemporary art, Prague, Czech Republic
Competitions, Prizes & Awards
2016, 3rd Prize, Painting 2016 Prize, VUB Foundation
2015, Finalist, Painting 2015 Prize, VUB Foundation
2011, Finalist, EXIT Award 2011, University of JE Purkyne
2010, Studio Prize, Academy of Fine Arts in Prague