Martin Velíšek (born 21 October 1963 in

Duchcov Duchcov (; german: Dux) is a town in Teplice District in the Ústí nad Labem Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 8,600 inhabitants. Duchcov is known for the Duchcov Castle. The historic town centre with the castle complex is well preserved ...

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

) 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' Places *Czech, ...

artist whose work spans the media of

glass Glass is a non-Crystallinity, crystalline, often transparency and translucency, transparent, amorphous solid that has widespread practical, technological, and decorative use in, for example, window panes, tableware, and optics. Glass is most ...

and

canvas Canvas is an extremely durable plain-woven fabric used for making sails, tents, marquees, backpacks, shelters, as a support for oil painting and for other items for which sturdiness is required, as well as in such fashion objects as handb ...

animated film Animation is a method by which still figures are manipulated to appear as moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Today, most ani ...

, album covers, book covers, restaurant menus, napkin packaging, TV packaging,

photography Photography is the visual art, art, application, and practice of creating durable images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It i ...

sculpture Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

, and

interiors ''Interiors'' is a 1978 American drama film written and directed by Woody Allen. It stars Kristin Griffith, Mary Beth Hurt, Richard Jordan, Diane Keaton, E. G. Marshall, Geraldine Page, Maureen Stapleton, and Sam Waterston. Allen's first f ...

. Academically, Velíšek's work is commonly referred as

grotesque Since at least the 18th century (in French and German as well as English), grotesque has come to be used as a general adjective for the strange, mysterious, magnificent, fantastic, hideous, ugly, incongruous, unpleasant, or disgusting, and thus ...

gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

, or absurdist. Velíšek himself avows a self-conceived school of "Parealism", and indeed the peculiarity of his artistic style eludes easy definition.

Life and work

Martin Velíšek graduated from the School of Industrial Art in

Kamenický Šenov Kamenický Šenov (german: Steinschönau) is a town in Česká Lípa District in the Liberec Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 3,900 inhabitants. The historic town centre is well preserved and is protected by law as an urban monument zo ...

in 1983 and then from the glass-working department of the College of Industrial Art, Prague in 1989. While his exhibitions drew attention even in communist-era Czechoslovakia, it was his association with the popular

avant-punk Avant-punk is a punk music style characterized by "screeching experimentation," and a term by which critics used to describe the wave of American punk bands from the 1970s. It originated with the New York-based rock band the Velvet Underground, ...

band Už Jsme Doma (where he holds the honorary title of “court painter“ and since 1994 he is regular member of band) in the 1990s that brought him broad public acclaim. Other wide-ranging projects in that decade contributed to making his work widely recognisable, such as: award-winning book cover for the Czech classic ''Babička (

The Grandmother ''The Grandmother'' () is a novella written by Czech writer Božena Němcová in 1855. It is her most popular work and is regarded as a classic piece of Czech literature. This most frequently read book of the Czech nation was published more th ...

)'' by

Božena Němcová Božena Němcová () (4 February 1820 in Vienna – 21 January 1862 in Prague) was a Czech writer of the final phase of the ''Czech National Revival'' movement. Her image is featured on the 500 CZK denomination of the Česká koruna. Biogra ...

, his contribution to Aurel Klimt‘s animated film version of

Jan Werich Jan Werich (; 6 February 1905 – 31 October 1980) was a Czech actor, playwright and writer. Early life Between 1916 and 1924, Werich attended "reálné gymnasium" (equivalent to high school) in Křemencova Street in Prague (where his future bu ...

’s '' Fimfárum'', and his embellishment of

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

Žižkov Žižkov is a cadastral district of Prague, Czech Republic. Most of Žižkov lies in the municipal and administrative district of Prague 3, except for very small parts which are in Prague 8 and Prague 10. Prior to 1922, Žižkov was an indep ...

’s famed tavern “At the Shot Out Eye” (''U vystřelenýho oka''), where his conceptions adorn everything from the tables to the head-rests he invented for the urinals.

Interpretation

A dominant theme in Velíšek's work is man, or better put, the body of man, generally closed in a space in his nakedness or before a horizon, and treated with a specific kind of crooked, or comical, baseness, that creates a distinctly black sense of humour. The pictures always have a clear composition which, along with abundant use of writing, leads to a sort of

Gothicism Gothicism or Gothism ( sv, Göticism ; la, Gothicismus) was a cultural movement in Sweden, centered on the belief in the glory of the Swedish Geats, who were identified with the Goths. The founders of the movement were Nicolaus Ragvaldi and t ...

applied with equal measure to religion or pub scenes. In 1992, however, his very human heroes provoked scandal: members of the local

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

demanded that certain canvases on exhibition in the town of

Znojmo Znojmo (; german: Znaim) is a town in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 33,000 inhabitants. Znojmo is the historical and cultural centre of southwestern Moravia and the second most populated town in the South Moravian R ...

be taken down or covered up. This new precedent in the post-communist world of Czech art, and the publicity that accompanied it, became a main factor in Matin Velíšek's speedy and unsought-after celebrity. Velíšek has since been the subject of two documentary films for

Czech Television Czech Television ( cs, Česká televize, italics=no ; abbreviation: ČT) is a public television broadcaster in the Czech Republic, broadcasting seven channels. Established after the Velvet Revolution in 1992, it is the successor to Czechoslov ...

, ''Spring, Hell, Autumn, Winter'' (''Jaro, peklo, podzim, zima'', 1994) and ''The Civilian Parealist's Studio'' (''Ateliér civilistního parealisty'', 1996). He lives in Prague.

Books

Books by/about: *''Lyžaři'', Argo, 1996 *'' Už jsme doma 11+4'', Argo, 2000 (

pop-up book The term pop-up book is often applied to any book with three-dimensional pages, although it is properly the umbrella term for movable book, pop-ups, tunnel books, transformations, volvelles, flaps, pull-tabs, pop-outs, pull-downs, and more, each ...

) Selected book covers: *'' A uzřela oslice anděla'', by

Nick Cave Nicholas Edward Cave (born 22 September 1957) is an Australian singer, songwriter, poet, lyricist, author, screenwriter, composer and occasional actor. Known for his baritone voice and for fronting the rock band Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, C ...

, Argo, 1995 *'' Farma zvířat'', Argo, 2000 *''Babička (

)'', by

, Prostor, 2006

External links

*Works online: https://web.archive.org/web/20061215011248/http://scripts.noise.cz/ujd/velisek.htm *Fimfárum: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0299878/ *Portrait: http://www.studiopvm.com/stranky%20s%20fotkama/stranka_foto_velisek.htm

References

*http://archiv.archatheatre.cz/czech/archiv/jaro_peklo_01.htm *https://web.archive.org/web/20061007015306/http://www.jedinak.cz/stranky/txtvelisek.html {{DEFAULTSORT:Velisek, Martin 1963 births Living people People from Duchcov Czech artists