Off-site

Level 3, Library of Birmingham

Thursday 1 June – Saturday 1 July

Monday and Tuesday 11am – 7pm, Wednesday – Saturday 11am – 5pm

Pavel Brázda Is Here organised by the Embassy of the Czech Republic, Birmingham City Council and Ikon Gallery it the first UK exhibition of work by Czech artist Pavel Brázda.

The exhibition presents a selection of works from the artist’s colourful Human Comedy Cycle, in celebration of a career which spans more than seven decades.

The Human Comedy Cycle is a parable in images – a testament to the world we live in, to human joys and predicaments – and in the series, good and evil get equal treatment. The primary theme is the age-old discord between masculinity and femininity. Although autobiographical, the parables are universal. The artist deals with intimate themes from his own life, yet with a detached perspective.

Pavel said: “This series is structured into individual chapters, each with a beginning and end. It all begins with birth and youth. Then it spans across a range of erotic themes to more dramatic and existential topics – such as old age or death.”

In the 1940s, the artist invented his own art movement called “Hominism”, which he defined as ‘art about people and for people’.

He explained: “It was important to me that a larger group of people be engaged with art, unlike with modern art, which often ends up in the possession of a few wealthy collectors. My wish was that art could be widely distributed in the form of replicas which would be accessible to anyone.”

Now almost 91, Pavel is finally fulfilling his idea of making his art available to a broader public by working on a computer to produce digital prints.

Pavel Brázda Is Here opens with a special viewing at 4pm on Thursday 1 June at the Library of Birmingham – Level 3, Centenary Square, Birmingham.

The exhibition is held under the auspices of Katerina Kalistova, Czech Republic’s First Deputy Minister of Culture..

Notes to Editors:
Despite the originality and pioneering nature of his art, Pavel Brázda was unrecognised for most of his life. Being neglected by the official art scene during the Communist era for political reasons had one huge advantage: absolute creative freedom and independence. He and his wife and fellow artist, Věra Nováková, finally had their first official exhibition in 1992, after the Velvet Revolution. The discovery of his large body of distinctive works became a sensation.

In 2006, to mark his 80th birthday, the National Gallery in Prague prepared a large retrospective of his works, and in 2010 his paintings were included in the gallery’s permanent exhibition.

Although he and his wife always worked outside of the mainstream, Brázda’s works often anticipated upcoming trends on the global art scene, including pop art, magic realism and art informal.  In the late 1980s, Brázda’s position as an outsider naturally bonded him with young underground artists, who appreciated his originality – something that was slowly disappearing with the incoming wave of postmodern art.

In 2006, at the age of 80, Brázda started using a computer to produce his works. Since then, he has been consistently working on the extensive Human Comedy series, an excerpt of which is the foundation for the exhibition at Library of Birmingham.  Despite the artist’s advanced age, his work is remarkably current and today, the opus includes more than 330 paintings.

For further press information, please contact:
Ms. Jana Čechlovská
jana_cechlovska@mzv.cz
phone: +44 20 7243 7985 mobile: +44 (0)7899 992 953