Lot 168

Jiří Kolář (1914 - 2002) DEATH OF A SHIRT

Shirt buried under the chiasmage of words becomes a kind of artifact testifying to the artistic development of Jiří Kolář. He transformed from a poet into a fine artist, gave the word a three-dimensional form, turned ordinary objects into a poem. For those who have the courage, despite the general belief that we should look at works of art from a respectful distance, Kolář's characteristic work will appear as a combination of several of his techniques. The basis consists of chiasmage, hundreds of connected fragments, in memory of his close friend František Sklenička, who introduced him to this technique. Upon closer inspection, we can see that the shirt is buried under the clutter of the text from the novel The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote de la Mancha. Poem from behind says: "Man is given his destiny with his life, his destiny is also given to things, but fulfilling destiny does not mean living. Good. But what if all the things spent were returned ... jewelry, matches, violins, chairs, instruments, appliances, etc., or the continent of linen with the metropolis of shirts. "