Tomáš Císařovský

This representative monograph offers an exciting look at thirty years of works by a central figure of Czech postmodern art, Tomáš Císařovský. Since the beginning of his artistic career, Císařovský has been fascinated by the medium of painting and has systematically worked to reintroduce traditional painting genres onto the Czech art scene. He is especially known for his unusually outstanding use of color and his ability to incorporate experiences from contemporary art into the long tradition of Western painting. Císařovský is also one of painting’s greatest storytellers, as evidenced by his cycles in which he turns to recent history and explores the relationship between the past and the present. In one recent series, for instance, he takes an original approach to capturing various moments from the life of playwright and president Václav Havel.
Císařovský uses the force of the imagination to confront collective memory with iconic images, inserting a sense of uncertainty into solidly fixed and historically codified images. His work is democratically open, intellectually contemplative, and morally provocative.