Vladivoj Kotyza belonged in the second half of the 1980s, along with his classmates at the Academy of Fine Arts Jan Jedlička and Mikuláš Rachlík, to the creators of the so-called Prague fantastic realism, which followed a broader trend of Czech imaginative art. After his studies, Kotyza developed a distinct realism in his work over the following decades, through which he captured real urban motifs in paintings and drawings – especially the dilapidated Plzeň suburb of Roudná. “At the same time, he was intensely engaged with the phenomenon of space, the perception of space, and the relationship between deep space and the two-dimensional surface of the painting. Since the 1990s, his attention has shifted, in connection with space, to nature, particularly forest environments,” adds exhibition curator Petr Jindra.
One of the key elements of Vladivoj Kotyza's work is the ability to perceive the world with extraordinary sensitivity and to accurately depict this experience. The main focus of Kotyza's work over the last fifteen years has been pastel drawings in the open air, in which he attempts to create a vivid record of natural phenomena. The exhibition presents hundreds of these drawings from specific geographical locations (from Šumava along the Úhlava, the surroundings of the Mže, the valley of the Žebrák stream, the Bolevec fish ponds, the valley of the Berounka, and other places) in six sections. The drawings are installed in continuous strips to allow for a seamless perception of the records of unique natural phenomena and landscape constellations.
The highlight of the exhibition is Kotyza's drawing-painting presentation “An Attempt at a Portrait of a Spruce,” consisting of five canvases with a total height of over four meters. “This forest individual is presented phenomenologically in the sequence of levels of his visual perception from roots to crown. This unique realization, in a certain sense, concludes a long-term study of trees and natural phenomena,” notes Petr Jindra regarding Kotyza's impressive work.
The exhibition is conceived in seven chapters against the flow of time from the present to the beginnings of Kotyza's work in the 1980s. Visitors can thus follow his work in the chapters An Attempt at a Portrait of a Spruce; Journey Through the Landscape and “Living” Drawing; Forest; The Face of the Drawer in Drawings; The 1970s: Choric Space, Relic-Things, Noon – the Apogee of the Day; The 1960s: “Nostalgic Figuration,” Fantastic Realism, Imagination.
The exhibition is accompanied by a monographic book by the curator of the exhibition, Petr Jindra, who has long been dedicated to the work of Vladivoj Kotyza.
