In the 1980s, Miloš Urbásek often complained that his work did not align with current (contemporary) trends. He was right because interest in geometric tendencies in visual art was completely overshadowed by the widely spread current creation of the new expression – neo-expressionism (Neue Wilde). Constructivist directions were accepted only to a lesser extent (e.g., in the former West Germany). Similar feelings were shared by some other artists (e.g., Radek Kratina). Naturally, Urbásek was essentially a "geometrist" by nature and simply missed the fashionable influences.

The beginnings of his work were rooted in the early 1960s. At that time, structural abstraction was particularly current. Urbásek, like his colleagues from the Bratislava group Konfrontácie, programmatically devoted himself to structural abstraction. However, he soon began to differentiate himself from them. His work shows rhythmic organization of monochromatic surfaces, geometric and structural division of large fields. Here he already shows interest in order and simplification of form. In the mid-1960s, he created collages using letters and thus aligned with the lettrist movement. But this was just another step towards geometric abstraction. Letters are more or less exact geometric shapes, and Urbásek began to use them as an autonomous expressive means. Already in 1965, letters or their fragments were the central geometric elements of the painting. I realized this when working with Miloš on assembling a stencil. I was criticized that "it" was crooked. But I measured it, I replied. "Well, I have been working with right angles for 25 years," Miloš answered. So I measured again, and of course, he was right.

Miloš Urbásek was somewhat lonely in Bratislava, partly because of his background. He did not have many friends in the artist circle, and few visited his studio on Baštová Street. Moreover, at that time, only a few Bratislava artists worked with geometric art. He rather had contact with some conceptualists. In the late 1970s and especially the 1980s, there were sporadic opportunities for group exhibitions of Slovak artists abroad. However, Miloš Urbásek was mostly overlooked; he was neither approached nor invited. He was also not approached from the Czech side, somehow forgotten, perhaps perceived like this within both nations.

Within a short time, he abstracted letters into individual curves—first distinct fragments that still described (identified) the letters themselves, and soon after fully working only with curves and lines—the letters were no longer discernible. Entirely in the concept of cold abstraction, yet retaining the author's handwriting. This was one of the peaks of Urbásek's work, lasting until about 1980. Then came an experiment with oil pastels, which opened another important period in his work. It was followed by acrylic painting, more oil pastel drawings, and also graphics. Vertically and horizontally divided surfaces are processed with characteristic hatching, typical of his style. The originality of his expression within geometric tendencies is evident and still not fully appreciated. When I had the opportunity to observe the gradual creative process during visits to the studio, I had a subjective impression that the colorfulness of these works, the cadence of the surface division, the intensity of hatching, the choice of technique (painting or drawing), all reflected Miloš’s feelings, moods, and momentary mental state. His work was a barometer of his inner self.

In the first half of the 1980s, he began to tackle the problem of monochromatic painting while preserving hatching, structures, and the composition of the work. First, he explored possibilities in large oil pastel drawings (100x70 cm), then in acrylic painting. He tentatively called this style "absolute painting." Like the old masters, he started another experiment with color and light in the painting, resulting, as I recall, in about 10 monochromatic paintings. He planned to move on to larger formats, but he did not manage to complete the project.

Jiří Jůza

Translated with the help of GPT chat.

Curator: Jiří Jůza