Jan Krtička

Jan Krtička mainly works with sculpture with distinct conceptual overtones. This is the outcome of his studies at the Faculty of Fine Art of the Technical University in Brno at the Sculpture Studio headed by Jan Ambrůz. Krtička initiates ephemerality and procedure by availing himself of the possibilities of intermedia art. However, the output media is not for him fundamental. He lays an emphasis on the concept and spatial layout. He regards his interventions in nature, which he often preresents simply in photographic documentation, primarily as sculptures. It is in this way that he plans them and understands the creative process. He is also aware of the dimension of action. He examined this sphere in his dissertation at the Faculty of Art and Design of the University of Jan Evangelista in Ústí nad Labem. He focused on the theoretical and critical position of the work within the context of documentation. This was reflected in his own creative output by virtue of his orientation on the spoken word, which commented on the work and created a meta-discourse in the form of documentation. The narrative position of Krtička’s work is based on quality audio and a relationship with the space in which it is exhibited. This applies, for instance, to the audio installation Trip of 2011, when in collaboration with Jan Prošek he filled the exhibition space with voices from loudspeakers describing individual moments of a trip, and the project Narration from 2014 at the Karlin Studios in Prague, again in collaboration with Jan Prošek, in which the absent documentary photographs were replaced by sound. In these and other such works the artist leaves a space for the viewer’s own invention, who by means of sound becomes an active participant and imagines the visual form of the work. Krtička was also behind the book Documentation? along with Jan Prošek, the publication of which was part of his defence of his doctorate at FUD UJEP in Ústí nad Labem.

Krtička’s work takes landscape and the photographic documentation of his installations as its themes. Questions are asked regarding the authenticity of the artwork in the case of land art. He focuses on recording the installations, and this indicates his interest in the theme of becoming, an interest manifest in the transience of the materials he uses in his works. He uses and experiments both with natural products such as leaves, stones, ice, etc., and with artificial materials such as breeze blocks, plasterboard and glass. His installation Glass (2001) for instance is a subtle intervention in the natural environment that both reflects and transforms its surroundings.

Krtička’s work is very sensitive and internal. It is based on experience and internalisation by means of the artist’s presence in the landscape. His interventions often presuppose from the first moment of inspiration their own demise. It is this balancing on the edge of the rational creative approach and natural random chaos that lends an element of secrecy to his work. Krtička’s oeuvre could be characterised as a creative contribution to an already existing environment that is transformed sensitively and minimally by the artist. A certain form of minimalist and conceptual thinking also appears in objects intended to be exhibited in a gallery (e.g. the installation Veneer, 2014). Here we encounter another of the artist’s interests, namely institutional criticism (the installations White Cube, 2006, Clean Table, 2008, and John Cage: Lecture on Nothing, audio installation from 2012), an interest also apparent in his curatorial projects, e.g. Documentation, 2012 Gallery NF in Ústí nad Labem, and Starting Point, 2015, Emil Filla Gallery in Ústí nad Labem.

Krtička’s work is characterised by a fascination with the visualisation of the process of movement and stillness, the natural order and chaos. We also find room in his work for planned coincidence. His work draws on the imprecision and multifariousness of nature combined with a simple concept.

Kurátorsko-autorská činnost 2015
Výchozí pozice, Galerie Emila Filly, Ústí nad Labem 2014
Vyprávění, Karlin Studios, Praha 2012
Dokumentace, Galerie NF, Ústí nad Labem Publikační činnost KRTIČKA, Jan (ed.) a Jan PROŠEK (ed.). Dokumentace umění. Ústí nad Labem: Fakulta umění a designu Univerzity Jana Evangelisty Purkyně, 2013. ISBN 978-80-7414-632-9. KRTIČKA, Jan. Dokumentace?. In Josef Vydra (1884 - 1959) v kontextu umělecké a výtvarně pedagogické avantgardy 20. století, historie a současnost univerzitního výtvarného vzdělávání v Olomouci. Olomouc: UP Olomouc, 2010. s. 181 – 182. ISBN 978-80-244-2586-3. KRTIČKA, Jan. Dokumentace umění jako mystifikace. In AD AKTA 1: Dějiny umění v rozšířeném poli. Praha: VŠUP, 2011. s. 154 – 160. ISBN 978-80-86863-98-6. JEDLIČKA, David a Jan KRTIČKA. Kresba, malba, graffiti: Poznámky k aktuální situaci. Olomouc: Univerzita Palackého v Olomouci, 2012, ISBN 978-80-244-3225-0.

Zmínky v katalozích a publikacích
Nejmladší, Národní galerie v Praze, 2003 PlomaART, Dům umění Opava, 2004
The &, FaVU VUT Brno, 2006
IV. Zlínský salón mladých, KGVU Zlín, 2006 Beton, FaVU VUT Brno, 2006
Mladé sovy, Galerie Caesar Olomouc, 2007
ROCCA, Alessandro. Natural Architecture. Milano: 22 Publishing, 2006. ISBN 88-95185-01-3
Mladé sovy, Galerie Caesar Olomouc, 2007 Art&Pond, Galerie Klatovy - Klenová, Uff!Art o. s., 2008 Místa, prostory, mezery, Dům umění v Opavě, Uff!Art o. s., 2008 Velké prádlo, Galerie Caesar, Olomouc, 2008 V. Zlínský salon mladých, KGVU, Zlín, 2009 Gum studio, Gum studio, Carrara, June 2010 16 – 20000 Hz, 2013 HRUŠKOVÁ, Adéla (ed.). Objekt zájmu. Ústí nad Labem: Fakulta umění a designu Univerzity Jana Evangelisty Purkyně, 2012. ISBN 978-80-7414-547-6

Zikmundová Dana, Hlasy probouzející naši imaginaci, Artalk, 12.1. 2015 http://www.artalk.cz/2015/01/12/hlasy-probouzejici-nasi-imaginaci/