Miloš Ševčík: Essentia minimalis

Miloš Ševčík: Essentia minimalis is a retrospective exhibition of the painter Miloš Ševčík, who was born in 1939 in Klatovy, and whose work provides not only a deep insight into his artistic development, spanning more than fifty years, but also into the history of modern art in the second half of the 20th century.

The exhibition aims to explore and illuminate key aspects of Ševčík’s work and to show his artistic development from his early works from the 1960s to his peak phase around 2000. Ševčík encompassed all creative techniques in his work, having first established himself – being a graduate from the School of Applied Arts in Prague – as an original and highly regarded graphic artist. He experimented with umaplex (polymethyl methacrylate) as early as the late 1960s, when the use of plastic in the visual arts was highly innovative and revolutionary. Miloš Ševčík moved from imaginative realistic forms to semi-abstract expression, which became characteristic of the artist. From the 1970s until his untimely death in the winter of 2007, he developed various forms of semi-abstract colourism with a minimalist tone.

The exhibition presents not only Ševčík’s stylistically unmistakable paintings, but also his drawings, prints and sculptures, which show his diverse artistic approach. Visitors will be able to follow his gradual transitions between different techniques and stylizations, revealing the richness and diversity of his creative process.

The curators of the exhibition present new interpretations of Ševčík’s work, analysing his inspirations and his relations to other artistic movements. At the same time, emphasis is placed on the social context in which Ševčík worked and his efforts to express his own opinion through art.