Exhibition Talk
Libor Veselý: IX

A guided tour of exhibition Libor Veselý: IX will take place on Wednesday, October 13, 2021 at 5 pm in House of the Lords of Kunštát. The exhibition will be conducted by curator Terezie Petišková with the attendance of the author.

Entrance fee: 20 CZK

Brno native Libor Veselý is one of the prominent figures of contemporary Czech painting, which has seen rapid development in the recent years. In the second half of the 1990s and after 2000 he studied under Jiří Načeradský at the newly established Faculty of Fine Arts in Brno, continued at the École Supérieure de Beaux-Arts in Lorient in France and finally passed through the colourist school of Jiří Sopko at the Prague Academy of Fine Arts.

Veselý works in extensive loosely connected cycles which often consist of large paintings on canvas. His creations focus on the visual aspects of contemporary world – he paints cities from bird’s eye perspective, records the fleeting moments of intersecting reflections on glass walls on the streets, captures the sensations of going downhill on a snowy mountain side. The colourist situation in the paintings testifies to his extraordinary ability to concentrate on the qualities of the experienced present. They also betray the artist’s inspiration by Old Masters. Being informed by historical painting is particularly obvious in the cycle of paintings in which he combines random blotches of paint with the construction of the Renaissance pictorial space and figures. Veselý's deep thoughts on the spiritual dimension of our world are conveyed by the cycle generally entitled Energy. It presents the artist’s vision of the bardo phenomenon, a transitional space between life and death described in the Tibetan Book of the Dead. In the most recent paintings by Libor Veselý, called A Girl on a Donkey – An Allegory of Partnership, it is possible to discern details suggesting hidden spiritual content. An encounter with paintings by Libor Veselý is an entry to a strange parallel world disclosing the artist’s inner reality. His works synthesise numerous impulses, exhibit continuity both with European historic painting and modern and contemporary culture. The colouristic approach to painting convinces us of the painter’s unusual ability to concentrate on the perception of the here and now, capturing the sensory experience as well as his sensitivity to colour.