Words of Dalibor Chatrný

The work of Dalibor Chatrný is exceptional in Czech art in terms of both its scope and the breadth of experimental methods, the search for new paths, and the posing of artistic and philosophical questions. From his extensive and multifaceted oeuvre, the exhibition will focus on a specific group of works created from the late 1960s onward, which can generally be described as verbal works. In these, he deliberately explored questions of words, language, the meanings of words, the relationships between signifier and signified, and the connections between verbal and visual/pictorial communication.

However, he did not belong to the group of rigid conceptual artists who denied the aesthetic aspect of the work. On the contrary, Chatrný remained a painter, and alongside his detailed exploration of language, words, and individual letters, he placed strong emphasis on the visual form of his verbal works, in which color, expressive handwriting, and gesture played an important role. He was interested not only in the semantic aspect of words but also in the structure of texts, which he translated into a different, visual language, seeking meanings in the visual composition of textually guided abstracted elements.

His exploration of verbal signs in combination with visual elements opened the way to a different perception and revealed possibilities for entirely new interpretations, addressing even more general questions. Through the breadth of issues he explored in this area, Chatrný enriched not only Czech visual art but the field as a whole to an unprecedented degree.

The exhibition, conceived as the final event in the series Dalibor Chatrný 100, draws on the insights of curator Alena Pomajzlová, recently published in Seeing and/or Reading: Chapters on the Relationship of Image and Word in Modern Art.

Open Tuesday to Sunday, 10:00 AM–6:00 PM, with extended hours on Wednesday until 8:00 PM.

Photo: Dalibor Chatrný