Jan Kubíček’s work is inextricably linked to constructivism. At the start of his work, especially in photography, he was influenced by the legacy of another native of Kolín, Jaromír Funke (especially the cycle Lunaparky). Kubíček’s early work was also linked with the legacy of Group 42, especially František Hudeček. He was interested in the “world in which we live” and the depiction of the urban landscape, our second nature, especially in its night form (Město s Měsícem / City with Moon, 1957).
Kubíček’s hallmark style begins to become clear at the turn of the 1950s/60s, when he created works using coloured paint on cardboard or metal. Trickling the paint created abstract compositions, the form of which the artist gradually influenced using mechanical manipulation with the base. The process of managing a painting became an important feature of his work.
At the same time Kubíček was involved in the creation of assemblages and collages, in which he used cut out posters or pages from books. Text and finally the individual character or letter begin to play an important role (Kruh s písmeny a čísly / Circle with Letters and Numbers, 1963). An important work from this period is Obraz s písmenem L / Painting with the Letter L (1965). The element of the letter is now completely independent. As a simple linear object, L becomes a “specific geometric shape for further work on drawings, collages, paintings and objects in 1967–1973.”[1]
From that point on, Kubíček created paintings or works on paper in series, in which he explored the formal and compositional properties of individual elements. These originated mainly from the square, its division or fragmentation (Variamobily, 1967; Variační systém s diagonálami / Variation System with Diagonals, 1969; Přičítání ve čtvercích / Attributions in Squares, 1970), and here again the letter L figures, also arising from the square (Tři prostorové elementy L / Three Spatial Elements of L, 1968; Pozice L / Position of L, 1970). In addition to the content, the process that leads the artist to discover said content is important. Variation was a fundamental creative principle: “By arranging certain variations and combining individual parts of the whole, a whole new range of possibilities is created by means of which a particular problem is investigated, developed or resolved.”[2] Different ways of dividing up the visual surface are then combined within a single canvas, and the series is thus “integrated” into the whole.
Individual features created by the division of the surface are further combined in what Kubíček called contra-positions. The grouping of individual “residual elements” is used in spatial objects from this period, vario-mobiles created mainly from rectangular surfaces and triangles. In small plexiglass objects Kubíček again divides the surfaces (Přičítání; Progrese v prostoru / Attributions: Progress in Space, 1971).
At the end of the 1970s, the artist met up in Prague with the Germany journalist and collector Hans-Peter Ries, who was preparing an exhibition of Czechoslovak constructivist art in Frankfurt am Main and a solo exhibition of Kubíček’s work in Koblenz, to where in August 1968 he transported his paintings at literally the last minute. He spent two months in Germany, met young representatives of systems art, and struck up important contacts that persisted throughout the period of normalisation. Contrary to the advice of friends, he decided to return to Czechoslovakia and for many years was unable to exhibit.
Kubíček continued to explore the method of investigating the relationship between line and space in a series of paintings from the early 1970s. He added an element of motion and dynamic, and the principle of randomness enters the system of composition in accordance with strict geometric order. Kubíček examines the dialectic of these two phenomena. He throws a dice in order to select colour shades that he introduces into the grid (Konstrukce – náhoda / Construction – Chance, 1976).
At the start of the 1980s, the theme of “dislocation”, i.e. the principle of the removal and displacement of a certain spatial element, increases in importance. The artist himself now called these works “actions” (Linie s dislokací / Line with Dislocation, 1979; Systém 4 dislokací / System of 4 Dislocations, 1982).
The square as the predominant shape in his work slowly gives way to the circle and semicircle. These are then dislocated and overlap, creating clusters and layered elements. Rich colours find their way to the canvas, which had rarely been seen in Kubíček’s early work.
Drawing is crucially important in Kubíček’s work. However, he also created graphic design, photography and illustrations, especially of children’s books (Jan Skácel: Jak šel brousek na vandr, SNDK, 1961; Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin: Fairy Tales, Albatros, 1981, et al.). He also created 3-dimensional paper toys and cutouts for children.
Kubíček is one of the most important representatives of Czechoslovak geometric abstraction. And yet like many others, he was only to receive the appreciation due to him after 1989. However, his reputation spread abroad, where his works formed part of important exhibitions. In 2014 the Prague City Gallery organised a large retrospective of his work curated by Hans-Peter Riese and Pavel Kappel).
[1] Jan Kubíček in the catalogue Ludwigshafen, p. 48.
[2] Jan Kubíček in the catalogue Jan Kubíček – Obrazy 1958 – 1995, Prague: Czech Museum of Fine Arts, 1995.
Studium:
1949–1953 Vysoká škola uměleckoprůmyslová, Praha 1954–1957 Akademie múzických umění, Praha
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