Roman Ondák. Notebook

The choice of Roman Ondák as the Deutsche Bank’s “Artist of the Year” 2012 fell on one of the world’s most distinguished Conceptual artists. Using the simplest of means, Ondák creates art that lends a philosophical, political, or sociocritical dimension to everyday experience and perception. In doing so, his interventions also scrutinize the structures of the art business—when, for instance, he staged lines of people in front of booths at the Frieze art fair in London in 2004, reducing the relation between supply and demand to an absurdity. They make reference to the lines in front of stores in the former Eastern Bloc and thus to Ondák’s background, which was informed by the dissolution of former Czechoslovakia.

With its annual “Artist of the Year” award, the Deutsche Bank honors promising young international artists who have already developed an independent, outstanding oeuvre that includes works on paper and photographs.