Napoleon, 2023

Petr Kuba  

A versatile artist. Despite the wide meaning of this term, this description can best describe the personality of the almost Renaissance Petr Kuba. His area of interest is unusually extensive. Although a sculptor by his academic education, he does not allow his invention to be bound by only one art discipline, but confidently crosses the boundaries of fields, techniques, materials and specific methods of creation. With his work, he achieves completely autonomous artistic qualities in every field of his interest, and every position of his work stands proudly as an independently existing form. In addition to sculpture, which, after all, slightly surpasses the level of attention that Cuba pays to it, the author also devotes himself to painting, graphics, relief creation and is also behind several realizations on the border between sculpture and architectural element.

In certain contexts, the author's striking sculptural handwriting can be loosely related to the direction of New Figuration, which since the 1960s aimed to revise the artistic approach to the depiction of the figure. Kuba's sculptures remain true to this starting point. Although his sculptures are clearly identifiable as human figures, their abstracted shape and proportionality deviated from the classical canon give them the character of almost cult, ritual or magical objects. Petr Kuba draws the subjects of his sculptural work mainly from mythology, religion, the field of human relations and, to a lesser extent, also from the animal kingdom. Behind the seemingly easy-to-read themes, however, one can sense deeper artistic and philosophical concepts that somewhat blur the original clarity of the themes and their meanings and thus make the reception of the work somewhat more demanding. To realize some of his metal sculptures, Kuba uses a unique casting technique that he invented himself and that no other artist currently uses. It is a fusion of metal and epoxy, where both materials are cast into a mold in one continuous process. This technology provides a wide range of possibilities for the use of colours, degrees of sanding and the very combination of metal with epoxy mass, which offers the potential of many expressions of the resulting work.

I work in such a way that when I have already created many sculptures and I start to get tired of them, I switch to painting, says Kuba about his interdisciplinarity. The expression of Kuba's painting is quite different from his sculpture. He avoids the foregrounding of strictly figurative subjects, even if his paintings cannot be characterized as pure abstraction. Behind skilfully hidden, seemingly abstract forms, there are usually quite specific subjects, which, however, need to be rooted out. Here, he is mainly inspired by natural themes such as water and the surrounding life, various animals, as well as experiences from everyday life or places he has visited. "Something comes to my mind, I dream something, I see something, I experience something," confides the artist. In relief work, he mainly works on small formats, in which he captures subjects from European mythologies, and he also devotes himself to the creation of commemorative medals in honour of important figures of Czech cultural life.

The author organizes solo exhibitions in the Czech Republic and abroad, and his works have also been seen at many collective exhibitions. Spectators could admire Kuba's work, for example, in the South American Venezuela, Holland, Kuwait, Germany, Italy or Luxembourg. In addition to his own artistic activity, Kuba also works in the field of art pedagogy and was briefly involved in the restoration of monuments. He is a member of the interdisciplinary art association "Q" and a member of the Union of Visual Artists of Olomouc.

Bio:

Born on March 29, 1958 in Olomouc

1973-1977 Šternberk High School

1977-1981 SUPŠ Uherské Hradiště

1984-1990 UMPRUM Prague (studios of Kurt Gebauer and Josef Malejovský)

1990-present freelance work and teaching activity

Individual exhibitions:        

1993 Volksbank Gallery, Frankenberg (Germany)           1994 Frese-Mehles gallery, Bad Arolsen with Mr. Zlámal          

1994 Na hráde gallery, Olomouc with Mr. Kubová      1995 Šternberk gallery , gallery Percosi, d'arte 90 Venezia (Italy)           

1996 Jan Svatý Kopeček gallery           

1997 Diekirch Gallery (Luxembourg)         

2003 gallery G (Olomouc)        

2003 castle Náměšť na Hané           2005 Litovel gallery        

2005 gallery G, Olomouc, with Zdenek Vacek           2006 Šternberk gallery    

2007 Forest studio Kuba Kersko

2008 Mona Lisa gallery Olomouc           

2009 Hranice Synagogue          

2012 Koruna Gallery, Hradec Králové           

2017 CREARS Gallery Rožnov pod Radhošťem           2018 Mona Lisa gallery Olomouc          

2020 gallery Rubikon Olomouc         

2021 Crears gallery Rožnov pod Radhoštěm           2024 gallery Hřivnáč Opava

Collective exhibitions:           

1991 Cabinet of graphics - Olomouc         

1992 chamber sculpture, Mánes gallery – Prague      1993 Intro Centro Europeo, Centro Ffiulano Arti Plastice, Udine – Italy          

1994 Symposium Vol. Kopeček, Jana gallery           1996 Jan Svatý Kopeček gallery

1997 Percosi gallery, d'arte 90 Venice - Italy           1998 Symposium – Teplá, Czech Republic           1998 Voorburk Gallery – The Netherlands           1999 gallery in Eslingen – Germany

2000 Art of Moravia, Embassy of the Czech Republic, Caracas-Venezuela

2001 gallery in Bad Neustat – Germany

2002 Rastros, Diaz Mancini gallery, Caracas – Venezuela

2002 II.salon – Litoměřice   

2004 meeting in the theater – Šumperk

2007 Embassy of the Czech Republic – Kuwait

2007 Monastery of the Franciscan Friars Minor – Prague  

2009 association Q, Reduta Brno 2010 association Q, museum Boskovice, gallery Znojmo   

2011 Wallachian seduction - Rajnochovice          2011 INSPIRO gallery – Brno association Q            2012 chateau in Chvaly – Prague         

2014 association Q Brno City Hall         

2016 association Q Gallery of the city of Olomouc    2017 association Q gallery Ostrava       

2019 association Q gallery Kroměříž         

2024 association Q gallery Ostrava