Jan Karpíšek (born 1981, in

Jihlava Jihlava (; ) is a city in the Czech Republic. It has about 55,000 inhabitants. Jihlava is the capital of the Vysočina Region, situated on the Jihlava (river), Jihlava River on the historical border between Moravia and Bohemia. Historically, Jihla ...

) is a

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus *Czech (surnam ...

contemporary painter, curator, and performer, recognized for his unique collaboration with bees in his artistic work. He studied at the Faculty of Fine Arts of

Brno University of Technology Brno University of Technology (BUT; Czech: ''Vysoké učení technické v Brně'', VUT) is a university located in Brno, Czech Republic. Being founded in 1899 and initially offering a single course in civil engineering, it grew to become a maj ...

under the guidance of Professor

Martin Mainer Martin Mainer (born 31 October 1959) is a Czech artist and professor. Career Mainer was born on 31 October 1959 in Havířov, Czechoslovakia. He studied Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague in 1978–1981 and Academy of Fine Arts, ...

(1999–2005). Subsequently, he spent half a year in the Performance Studio led by Professor Tomáš Ruller. Karpíšek's artwork explores themes such as the passage of time, the erotic, and spirituality. A significant portion of his work reflects his meditation practice, capturing the interplay of the body and soul. His paintings lack a singular stylistic approach, ranging from naive and grotesque expressions to gestural abstraction. Additionally, his interests extend to action painting, the use of natural pigments, and conceptual performance art. His bachelor and master’s theses centered on the theme of time, for which he received the Dean's Prize in 2003. Some of his large-scale works are reminiscent of

Gerhard Richter Gerhard Richter (; born 9 February 1932) is a German visual artist. Richter has produced Abstract art, abstract as well as photorealistic paintings, photographs and Glass art, glass pieces. He is widely regarded as one of the most important con ...

and

Barnett Newman Barnett Newman (January 29, 1905 – July 4, 1970) was an American painter. He has been critically regarded as one of the major figures of abstract expressionism, and one of the foremost color field painters. His paintings explore the sense ...

. In 2004, Karpíšek won second place in the Artkontakt student competition. That same year, his piece "Mars" was acquired by the

National Gallery in Prague The National Gallery Prague (, NGP), formerly the National Gallery in Prague (), is a state-owned art gallery in Prague, which manages the largest collection of art in the Czech Republic and presents masterpieces of Czech and international fine a ...

and exhibited during the IBCA 2005 in Prague. In 2009, he contributed to Václav Cílek’s book ''Orfeus: The Book of Underground Rivers''. In 2015, Karpíšek was named a finalist in the Dave Bown Projects competition. In addition to his artistic pursuits, Karpíšek practices

Zazen ''Zazen'' is a meditative discipline that is typically the primary practice of the Zen Buddhist tradition. The generalized Japanese term for meditation is 瞑想 (''meisō''); however, ''zazen'' has been used informally to include all forms ...

meditation. He is also an active beekeeper and

permaculture Permaculture is an approach to land management and settlement design that adopts arrangements observed in flourishing natural ecosystems. It includes a set of design principles derived using Systems theory, whole-systems thinking. It applies t ...

gardener and is the father of three sons.

Selected solo exhibitions

*"Cultivate-Self", Opobchod Store, Jemnice, 18 February–17 May 2024 *"World according to Plan", (with Jonáš Karel Karpíšek), Umakart Gallery, Brno, 6 September–2 October 2022 *"Beehive in Ji-Hlava", Nonstrop Gallery, Jihlava, 3 August–31 October 2022 *"History Lesson", Labyrinth School, Brno, 1 September–21 November 2021 *"Spring of Collections", Josef Jambor Gallery, Tišnov, 8 August–27 September 2020 *"Paintings by Bees", Alternativa, Vysočina County Gallery, Jihlava, 13 September–14 October 2018 *"Paintings by Bees", Diera do sveta, Liptovský Mikuláš, Slovakia, 21 July–31 August 2018 *"Art with Bees",

Deptford Cinema Deptford Cinema is a volunteer run, not-for-profit, community cinema, art gallery, and occasional music venue, formerly located at 39 Deptford Broadway in the Deptford district of the London Borough of Lewisham. At the time of opening in 2014 i ...

, London, 16–31 March 2017 *"Layer of Illusion", Gallery U kolen / Tři ocásci, Brno, 10 October–11 November 2016 *"Commemoration Celebration for Extinct Plants", (with Ondřej Maleček), Na shledanou Gallery, Malšice Cemetery, Volyně, 27 August 2016–1 September 2017 *"Landscape is Divine", Evangelical House of Prayer, Brno Židenice, 11 June–11 July 2016 *"Reality is a Miracle" (Project VyTer, with Ondrej Horak, curator Dominika Halvova), Gallery Off/Format, Brno, 11–17 March 2015 *"Mortgage on a Coat", Gallery Dole, Antiquarian Bookshop Fiducia, Ostrava, 27 January–7 March 2014 *"Following Mind and Time", Gallery Artkontakt, Brno, 2005 *"The Passing of the Time" (Performance), Festival New Media, Cheb, 2003

References

Faculty of Fine Arts - Performance Studio
/ref> Artkontakt Student Competition - 2004
/ref> IBCA 2005 - Exhibition at the National Gallery in Prague
/ref> Václav Cílek - Orfeus: The Book of Underground Rivers
/ref>

External links

Video from the exhibition in OGV Jihlava

Interview in Aesthetica Magazine

Karpíšek's homepage
{{DEFAULTSORT:Karpisek, Jan 21st-century Czech painters Czech male painters Czech art curators People from Jihlava 1981 births Living people