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House of Art
TUES–SUN 10:00–18:00

Cross-sections of civilization

1972–2019

digital print, canvas, 120×178 cm

purchased in 2020 with the support of the Czech Ministry of Culture

This is a series of four prints containing identical basic visual information – two vertical fields, with the upper part showing the individual layers of the Earth’s atmosphere and the lower part showing the layers of the Earth’s crust. The layers of the atmosphere and the crust are relatively stable components of our planet, and they enable life to exist here. However, what occurs between these layers is variable, uncertain, and nowadays extremely dependent on human activity – which compounds the uncertainty. Sikora uses graphemes (exclamation marks and question marks) and black strips (evoking funeral announcements) to draw our attention to the fact that the fate of our planet’s layer between its atmosphere and its crust is in the hands of humanity, and that our human activities are plunging this space into a domain of speculation and uncertainty – as reflected in the graphemes (graphic symbols) that form part of the image.

SIKORA RUDOLF

(1946, Žilina) Painter, graphic artist, photographer, sculptor. One of the most important Slovak conceptual artists, he has been active since the late 1960s. In 1963–1969 he studied in Bratislava, attending two institutions simultaneously: the Academy of Fine Arts, and the Academy of Performing Arts (where he studied scenography for two years). In 1970 he organized an exhibition at his own studio, which expressed a protest against the communist establishment; as a result he was officially blacklisted, and he became part of the underground art scene. After the Velvet Revolution, he worked as an advisor to the country’s first two ministers of culture, and from 1990 he taught at several higher education institutions (the Academy of Fine Arts in Bratislava and its namesake in Prague). His works are represented in the collections of the National Gallery in Prague, the Ludwig Museum in Cologne, the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, and more. His debut exhibition was in 1969; at the time he worked with a semiotic system composed of maps, plans and topographic sketches. From the outset of his career, Sikora’s work has been deeply concerned with ecology and the environment. He creates varied compositions addressing topics such as cities, human beings, and the topography of planets and the universe. He works with visual compositions consisting of photographs, digital photography (modified using software), collage, and combinations of painting and photography. In his most recent works (which he terms “Eco-comics”), he uses openly critical rhetoric to express his opposition to humans’ exploitation of the planet and civilization’s focus on the ethos of money and over-consumption.
digital print, kappa paper, 173 × 275 cm, purchased in 2020 with the support of the Czech Ministry of Culture
1995–2019

Touching a grave II

mixed technique, pencil, India ink, digital print, kappa paper, 161 × 120 cm,  purchased in 2020 with the support of the Czech Ministry of Culture
1985–2018

End of the Anthropocene?

digital print, canvas, 131,5 × 120 cm, purchased in 2020 with the support of the Czech Ministry of Culture
1981–2015

Square for Malevič – from the cycle Noospheres

collage, particleboard, 131.3 × 122.2 cm, purchased in 2021 with funding from the Czech Ministry of Culture
1981/1983

From the cycle Noosphere (Threat?)

acrylic, canvas, wood, 153 × 150.5 cm, purchased in 2021 with funding from the Czech Ministry of Culture
1994

Suprematists’ Tomb VI

triptych, offset, collage, paper, plywood, dimensions of each part 120 × 85 cm, purchased in 2021 with funding from the Czech Ministry of Culture
1979

Concentration of Energy (Black Hole IV)

mixed media, paper, 670 × 970 mm
1996/1998/2011

Untitled

Girl in a fur

Girl in a fur

undated
Old Eroticism

Old Eroticism

1996
Concrete (Below a Slag-Heap)

Concrete (Below a Slag-Heap)

1983
Wallachian Madonna

Wallachian Madonna

1921
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