![Sculpture, Napoleon, Petr Kuba](https://media.artsper.com/artwork/2242096_1_grid.jpg)
Petr Kuba
Biography
A versatile artist. Despite the wide meaning of this term, this description can best describe the personality of the almost Renaissance Petr Kuba. His area of interest is unusually extensive. Although a sculptor by his academic education, he does not allow his invention to be bound by only one art discipline, but confidently crosses the boundaries of fields, techniques, materials and specific methods of creation. With his work, he achieves completely autonomous artistic qualities in every field of his interest, and every position of his work stands proudly as an independently existing form. In addition to sculpture, which, after all, slightly surpasses the level of attention that Cuba pays to it, the author also devotes himself to painting, graphics, relief creation and is also behind several realizations on the border between sculpture and architectural element.
In certain contexts, the author's striking sculptural handwriting can be loosely related to the direction of New Figuration, which since the 1960s aimed to revise the artistic approach to the depiction of the figure. Kuba's sculptures remain true to this starting point. Although his sculptures are clearly identifiable as human figures, their abstracted shape and proportionality deviated from the classical canon give them the character of almost cult, ritual or magical objects. Petr Kuba draws the subjects of his sculptural work mainly from mythology, religion, the field of human relations and, to a lesser extent, also from the animal kingdom. Behind the seemingly easy-to-read themes, however, one can sense deeper artistic and philosophical concepts that somewhat blur the original clarity of the themes and their meanings and thus make the reception of the work somewhat more demanding. To realize some of his metal sculptures, Kuba uses a unique casting technique that he invented himself and that no other artist currently uses. It is a fusion of metal and epoxy, where both materials are cast into a mold in one continuous process. This technology provides a wide range of possibilities for the use of colours, degrees of sanding and the very combination of metal with epoxy mass, which offers the potential of many expressions of the resulting work.
I work in such a way that when I have already created many sculptures and I start to get tired of them, I switch to painting, says Kuba about his interdisciplinarity. The expression of Kuba's painting is quite different from his sculpture. He avoids the foregrounding of strictly figurative subjects, even if his paintings cannot be characterized as pure abstraction. Behind skilfully hidden, seemingly abstract forms, there are usually quite specific subjects, which, however, need to be rooted out. Here, he is mainly inspired by natural themes such as water and the surrounding life, various animals, as well as experiences from everyday life or places he has visited. "Something comes to my mind, I dream something, I see something, I experience something," confides the artist. In relief work, he mainly works on small formats, in which he captures subjects from European mythologies, and he also devotes himself to the creation of commemorative medals in honour of important figures of Czech cultural life.
The author organizes solo exhibitions in the Czech Republic and abroad, and his works have also been seen at many collective exhibitions. Spectators could admire Kuba's work, for example, in the South American Venezuela, Holland, Kuwait, Germany, Italy or Luxembourg. In addition to his own artistic activity, Kuba also works in the field of art pedagogy and was briefly involved in the restoration of monuments. He is a member of the interdisciplinary art association "Q" and a member of the Union of Visual Artists of Olomouc.
Bio:
Born on March 29, 1958 in Olomouc
1973-1977 Šternberk High School
1977-1981 SUPŠ Uherské Hradiště
1984-1990 UMPRUM Prague (studios of Kurt Gebauer and Josef Malejovský)
1990-present freelance work and teaching activity
Individual exhibitions:
1993 Volksbank Gallery, Frankenberg (Germany) 1994 Frese-Mehles gallery, Bad Arolsen with Mr. Zlámal
1994 Na hráde gallery, Olomouc with Mr. Kubová 1995 Šternberk gallery , gallery Percosi, d'arte 90 Venezia (Italy)
1996 Jan Svatý Kopeček gallery
1997 Diekirch Gallery (Luxembourg)
2003 gallery G (Olomouc)
2003 castle Náměšť na Hané 2005 Litovel gallery
2005 gallery G, Olomouc, with Zdenek Vacek 2006 Šternberk gallery
2007 Forest studio Kuba Kersko
2008 Mona Lisa gallery Olomouc
2009 Hranice Synagogue
2012 Koruna Gallery, Hradec Králové
2017 CREARS Gallery Rožnov pod Radhošťem 2018 Mona Lisa gallery Olomouc
2020 gallery Rubikon Olomouc
2021 Crears gallery Rožnov pod Radhoštěm 2024 gallery Hřivnáč Opava
Collective exhibitions:
1991 Cabinet of graphics - Olomouc
1992 chamber sculpture, Mánes gallery – Prague 1993 Intro Centro Europeo, Centro Ffiulano Arti Plastice, Udine – Italy
1994 Symposium Vol. Kopeček, Jana gallery 1996 Jan Svatý Kopeček gallery
1997 Percosi gallery, d'arte 90 Venice - Italy 1998 Symposium – Teplá, Czech Republic 1998 Voorburk Gallery – The Netherlands 1999 gallery in Eslingen – Germany
2000 Art of Moravia, Embassy of the Czech Republic, Caracas-Venezuela
2001 gallery in Bad Neustat – Germany
2002 Rastros, Diaz Mancini gallery, Caracas – Venezuela
2002 II.salon – Litoměřice
2004 meeting in the theater – Šumperk
2007 Embassy of the Czech Republic – Kuwait
2007 Monastery of the Franciscan Friars Minor – Prague
2009 association Q, Reduta Brno 2010 association Q, museum Boskovice, gallery Znojmo
2011 Wallachian seduction - Rajnochovice 2011 INSPIRO gallery – Brno association Q 2012 chateau in Chvaly – Prague
2014 association Q Brno City Hall
2016 association Q Gallery of the city of Olomouc 2017 association Q gallery Ostrava
2019 association Q gallery Kroměříž
2024 association Q gallery Ostrava