Tag: badhuis

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Karel Malich (1924-2019)

Karel Malich was born on 18 October 1924 in Holice, Czechoslovakia, where he studied art education and aesthetics at the Charles University Faculty of Arts and the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague. His inaugural solo exhibition took place in 1963 at the House of Culture in Vysoké Mýto. That same year, he co-founded the prestigious art group Křižovatka/Crossroads, along with other notable members such as Jiří Kolář, Běla Kolářová, Zdeněk Sýkora, and Otakar Slavík. In the second half of the 1960s, Malich’s works started to gain recognition abroad, with his Black and White Sculpture being selected for exhibition at the Guggenheim Museum in New York in 1967. In 1970, Malich’s works were displayed alongside those of other Czech artists at the Venice Biennale, and he also created the bronze signing table and a model of the Earth for Expo ’70 in Osaka. In 1979 to 1980, he wrote his poetic prose titled “From That Time to That Time Now,” which was later recorded by Jiří Lábus for a CD released in conjunction with the retrospective Malich exhibition held at the Prague Castle Riding School in 2013. The exhibition showcased three hundred pieces of Malich’s art, spanning fifty years of his illustrious career.

www.ftn-books.com has now the extremely scarce Badhuis publication from 1982 available.

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Pier van Dijk & Robert Joseph (1944)

An essential characteristic of concrete poetry is that it is created using letters (words/phrases) in conjunction with the typographical space surrounding them. In contrast, visual poetry is a fusion of typography and graphics, with language elements supplemented by “externalinguistic” elements such as photos, drawings, objects, and actions. This shift towards materials used by poets took place earlier in the Netherlands – starting in 1968 with Hans Clavin – compared to many other countries.

Pier van Dijk and Robert Joseph
(excerpt from “Actions 1979”)
After 1975, the activities of most visual poets began to decline. An exception to this were the artist Robert Joseph and poet/artist Pier van Dijk, who, being more cautious in their poetic development, were equally active until the early 1980s. For them, poetry evolved into “total poetry”, a fusion of auditory and visual poetry.

Van Dijk has been writing poetry since 1961, painting since 1963, and creating and performing visual poems since 1971. He has referred to his work as “total art” since 1979. Joseph has been creating concrete poetry since 1966 and visual poetry since 1967. In 1971, the collection “Zie-po-eie (26 visual poems 1965-1970)” was released by De Tafelronde Antwerp (print run: 250). This collection consists of 23 concrete poems, two of which feature objects (first published in 1967 and 1969), and a photographic documentation of a “action poem”. In 1972, the publication “The visual triangle” was released, exploring the relationship between words, reality, and images in his poems. Joseph has referred to his work as total poetry since 1976: his aim is to encapsulate the “totality” of life.

www.ftn-books.com has npw the scarce Kunmstcentrum Badhuis catalog from 1980 available.

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Getulio Alviani (1939-2018)

Getulio Alviani was an exceptional Italian artist, renowned for his contributions to Programmed Art and Kinetic Art.

He underwent training in the studio of the revered sculptor Max Piccini before delving into the world of graphic and industrial design for an electrical equipment company. It is during this time that he delves deeper into the realm of visual communication, exploring everything from small control devices to transformable wall structures.

In the late 1950s, Alviani produced his first “light lines,” utilizing meticulously carved metal surfaces arranged in a modular fashion.

In 1962, he made a noteworthy appearance at the Programmed Art exhibition hosted by Olivetti in Venice, Rome, and Düsseldorf. He also joined the esteemed international movement ‘Nove Tendencije’ alongside the ‘Gruppo N’ of Padua, Enrico Castellani, and Piero Manzoni.

From the early 1960s onwards, Alviani’s light lines became an iconic and recognizable feature of his work. They served as prototypes of milled aluminum surfaces adorned with a pulsating texture that eventually became his unmistakable signature. These surfaces boasted transparency and kaleidoscopic effects, morphing based on the angle of incidence and light to create a wide range of captivating images.

Throughout the early 1960s, he actively participated in numerous group exhibitions across Europe, with a particular focus on Berlin, Amsterdam, Frankfurt, and Paris. In 1964, he even displayed his masterpieces at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs of the Louvre Museum during the exhibition ‘Nouvelle Tendance Recherches Continuelles’. This led to more international exhibitions in cities like the United States, Tel Aviv, and Tokyo.

During these formative years, Alviani cultivated meaningful connections with esteemed artists such as Josef Albers, Anni Albers, Max Bill, Hans Richter, Sonia Terk Delaunay, and Lucio Fontana.

www.ftn-books.com has the Kunstcentrum Badhuis publication on Alviani now available.

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Zdeněk Sýkora (1920-2011)

Sykora was one of the first visual artists to experiment with computer generated art.

Sykora uniquely titled his paintings from 1974 in a simple manner, with “Lines” holding a prominent place in Sýkora’s work due to their vibrant and ever-changing colors. In 1973, the artist delved into this theme for the first time, bringing an end to his previous decade of impressive structural creations. In fact, as early as 1964, Zdeněk Sýkora was one of the first painters in the history of fine arts to incorporate the use of computers as a tool in the composition of his paintings. Working together with mathematician Jaroslav Blažek, they developed a program for establishing the positions of each element in the artwork. The use of structures adhered to predetermined rules that the computer would follow and complete. On the other hand, Sýkora’s “earthworms” – as he playfully referred to his line paintings- were a result of the random nature of the system, a collaboration with his wife Lenka starting in 1985. Here, the computer would provide a series of random numbers for all aspects of the painting, from widths and colors to the lengths of the lines. This process resulted in a score of numbers, which the author then translated onto the canvas in a classical fashion, akin to reading a musical score. But why did the author give a different title to his painting, Lines no. 56? Surely, he was taken aback by the “mad” circus that had emerged on the canvas. It surpassed all of his expectations, even causing him to struggle with the unconventional use of colors. This led to a year of uncertainty before finally, it became a distinct representation of Sýkora’s unique style.

www.ftn-books.com has one of the first publications on Sykora’s art available.

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Ryszard Winiarski (1936-2006)

Ryszard Winiarski’s artistic ingenuity stems from his fusion of patterns gleaned from the sciences with the vocabulary of art. For him, the actual act of creation holds more significance than the final result, a concept he himself struggled to define.

Within his works, the sole mode of artistic communication exists in the form of black and white blocks, representing the mathematical counterparts of one and two. According to Winiarski, his paintings are mere happenstance, showcasing his status as a prime exponent of indeterminacy in Polish art.

www.ftn-books.com has now one of the very first publications on Winiarski available. It is the Kunstcentrum Badhuis publication in Mint condition.