jan karpíšek

In his work, Jan Karpíšek has long referred to essential, personal dialogues with the surrounding reality.
His figural painting, diary drawing, action painting and ready-made assemblages address current issues
of the anthropocentric way of thinking, which is confronted with an intense experiencing of human belonging to everything.
The retrospective exhibition Spring of Collections, presenting Karpíšek's work from 1999–2020, is an opportunity to express
a worldview dominated by an effort to penetrate the essence of reality. Karpíšek finds his source of inspiration in Eastern religion,
specifically through his own contemplation and concentration on the lotus flower within the practice of zazen.
This enables him to access images, imagination as well as the games of the human mind and consciousness that transform
the observed from the position of the observer, and vice versa. Another important resource for him is the sensitive perception
of the surrounding phenomena in his own garden full of life in Brno-Soběšice.
In his paintings, these creative impulses are complemented with animistic ideas of natural forms as beings.
A celebration of the "natural forces" creative principle with an emphasis on the unbreakable interconnection between
humans and nature is the main axis of Karpíšek’s creative process. The figures in the paintings enter into situations
in which they are transformed in relation to corporeality and acquire archetypal attributes of creative energy and life-giving forces.
Themes of the landscape as a body, a body as a tree, living organisms and identities meditating or walking
in the garden, dressed in subtle coats or accompanied by symbols of fertility, are depicted in visually strong images.
Karpíšek's performances and interactions, enabling him to authentically establish a relationship with natural processes
and sources of creative energy, constitute another axis of the artist's work.
In his abstractions, portraits of politicians and conceptual letters to bees, Karpíšek collaborates with the beehives that he breeds
and lets them complete the creative process he had started. The interactions with bees make his work unique on the Czech art scene.
Taking into account issues of environmentalism, he offers the way of an internal dialogue and personal relationship
with Mother Earth. In conversations with reality, Jan Karpíšek points out the connection between sensitivity to nature
and one's personal responsibility and follows the path of hope.

Radka Kaclerová


There is something that can be called ‘reality’. But it does not exist in higher realms of spiritual consciousness;
it exists here in this place, now at this very moment. It is not a yet-to-be-at-tained state. It is an all-embracing reality,
and we all exist unseparated from this reality. We are already part of it. It is already part of us. Yet it is a whole,
not formed of parts. The Universe is whole. Although we think that we are separate from it, we are not.
Although we experience our bodies as separate from it, they are not. This reality is almost impossible to put into words,
but it is real. It is this moment. It is our life itself. It is the Universe itself.
When I sit in zazen, I am experiencing this wholeness, this reality. This truth embraces all other truths.
But it cannot be understood with the mind alone. Understanding the nature of myself and the world like this,
I am free at this place. Free at this time. Sometimes trapped by our dreams.
Sometimes caught in our memories of what happened in the past.
Sometimes seeking a life that is better than this one, seeking a self that is better than the self we already are.
We create our own dissatisfaction. And if we are lucky enough to stumble upon the truth that the Buddha found,
we too can fold our legs on a cushion, sit with the body held vertical, and discover for ourselves that we are just here,
in this place. That we are living just at this moment.
And we experience the same state that the Buddha experienced over 2000 years ago.

Mike Eido Luetchford


This is how the practice is described by a teacher of Buddhism, who I ended up as a disciple of in 2010 after years of searching
for a spiritual method of holistic experience of reality. I am constantly learning to experience the unity of reality,
which the human mind is accustomed to divide and classify into many parts and overlapping categories.
For example, when walking between my upper garden where I live and the lower garden where my bees live.
On the way I greet the Being formed by the Red Hills north of Brno. When I open the beehive in the lower garden
by the stream, I perceive its smell, similar to the smell of leavened dough at the time of brood rearing,
listening to the hum of the colony and the murmur of bees moving on honeycombs, chewing a piece of virgin wax with fresh linden nectar
or a piece of alder propolis scraped from the edge of the frame. I am looking for the queen among the swarming workers and drones
to catch her in the cage and create a shook swarm to start a new bee family.
I learn to be present also when I am under stress when I am overwhelmed by work or sudden needs of my three sons.
All this is reflected in my painting which was initially saturated with idealistic pantheism
and an esoteric concept of permaculture. Sometimes it figuratively narrates about specific moments of awakening,
other times it philosophizes in positions of metaphors, gestic abstraction or action painting.
I directly include in my work other processes that are part of my reality.
I work with bees that gnaw off drawings and texts inserted into the hive and build a comb of wax or propolis on them.
Sometimes I jokingly provoke viewers by letting bees bite out portraits of politicians arousing strong and antagonistic feelings.
But above all, I take bee interaction as a manifestation of their natural activity; in contrast, human thinking is superfluous
and excessive. Bees respond to koans with their work.
I consciously prepare the creation of some artifacts, I discover some ready-made ones in the garden,
such as a cloth covering a barrel of rainwater avoiding birds drowning in it. This was painted by the inflowing water
from the drain, the dirt and the rotting processes of the microorganisms, which created an impressive dragon scenery.
In my work, I repeatedly point to the mind itself, which can surprisingly see its own distinction, boundaries and limitations,
and thus have fun for a while and learn a lesson.

Jan Karpíšek



texts-bibliography​

Druhá města / Andere Städte (catalogue), Káznice Studios, Brno, 2025 (PDF)
HERE AND NOW! (catalogue of 2021 group exhibition), House of Arts Brno, 2023, ISBN: 978-80-7009-201-9
https://jihlavsky.denik.cz/zpravy_region/vceli-jukebox-v-centru-jihlavy-lide-si-mohou-poslechnout-nahravku-bzuceni-202208.html
https://jihlavska.drbna.cz/zpravy/kultura/17944-vcely-jako-umelkyne-v-male-lazebnicke-ulici-je-k-videni-vystava-ul-v-ji-hlave-nechybi-ani-vceli-jukebox.html
https://www.seznamzpravy.cz/clanek/regiony-jihlavska-galerie-predstavuje-tvorbu-jana-karpiska-a-jeho-vcel-210734
https://www.jihlava.cz/v-jedne-z-nejuzsich-jihlavskych-ulic-je-vceli-jukebox/d-554690/p1=142516
Artalk, Interview with Denisa Bytelová and Sráč Sam, Alžběta Cibulková, 8.12.2021

https://artalk.info/news/denisa-bytelova-a-srac-sam-neboj-se-vzdyt-se-nic-nestalo
When I hear you say it, I have joy in my eyes (catalogue), Sráč Sam, Denisa Bytelová, Center for Contemporary Arts, Prague, 2021, ISBN: 978-80-88386-03-2
Vývěr ze sbírek (catalogue), Radka Kaclerová, Michael Luetchford, Josef Jambor Gallery, Tišnov, 2020, ISBN: 978-80-270-8169-1
Photo report from the exhibition, Martina Schneiderová, 23.8.2020 - https://artalk.info/news/jan-karpisek-v-galerii-josefa-jambora-v-tisnove
Moderní včelař (Modern Beekeeper magazine), 7/2020, pg. 33-35, Včely jsou Picasso (Bees are Picasso, interview), Marie Šotolová, Petr Texl, PSNV Opatovice, 26. 6. 2020, ISSN: 1214-5793
Let's Hit the Road Again, Shirley Reiff Howarth, pg. 9, The Humanities Exchange, USA, 2019, ISBN 978-0-943488-27-1 Paperback, ISBN 978-0-943488-26-4 Hardbound
Benefit auction for St. Lazarus Hospice in Pilsen, (auction catalogue), pg.36, 77, Klatovy, 2017
Objekt Julek (comics, one of the authors), Ondřej Elbel, Větrné mlýny, Brno, 2017, ISBN 978-80-7443-248-4
Slezské písně (illustration), Petr Bezruč, pg. 104, Silesian Museum, Opava, 2017, ISBN 978-80-87789-42-1
Mirabilia in Czech Land, Contemporary Artists from Czech Republic, pg. 16, 144, 145, Imago Mundi, Luciano Benetton Collection, Cornuda, 2017, ISBN 88-99657-65-3
The key to self-sufficiency, Volume 6, Bees and other insects on land, pg. 71, 72, 77, 78, Bees artists, Permaculture (CS), Brno, 2016, ISBN 978-80-905108-7-6
13th auction salon of artists (catalogue), Nadace Charty 77, Praha, 2016
ETCETERA 2, auction catalogue, Brno, 2016
Weles, Interview with Jan Karpíšek (artistic horizons), Markéta Hájková, str. 75-79,
(ibidem:) Under the coat (review), Susan Maly, pg. 87-88, 66/2016, Brno, 2016, ISSN 1214-2948
Literary-cultural magazine H_aluze, 37/autumn 2016 (quarterly), Ústí nad Labem, 2016
Reform gallery, pg. 15, 19, Detailed description of the project, Jan Vincenec, Prague, 2016
Práce, pg. 21, 89, Sam83 Gallery, Česká Bříza, 2016, ISBN 978-80-87566-27-5
Aesthetica Magazine, Q+A with Czech artist Jan Karpíšek, 1.8.2016, Kate Simpson - http://www.aestheticamagazine.com/q-and-a-with-jan-karpisek/
Hospodářské noviny, Manželé Zemanovi mají ve sbírkách umění od Houdka či Gabriela, představují ho na dvou výstavách,
http://archiv.ihned.cz/c1-65316920-galerie-sladovna-zemanovi-vystava, 3.6.2016
KAM v Brně, 1/2016, pg. 30, Brno, 2016
5plus2, 24.4.2015, pg.4, Výtvarníci vezmou návštěvníky výstavy k sobě na zahradu, Pavla Komárková, 2015
http://www.5plus2.cz/?e=MA-BRNO-M&d=24.04.2015#strana=4
ETCETERA 1, auction catalogue, Brno, 2015
V zahradách (illustrations), Michaela Horynová, Šimon Ryšavý, Brno, 2015, ISBN 978-80-7354-154-5
Kopřivy (catalogue), Vaizard, Brno, 2015, ISBN 978-80-260-8135-7
Galerie Dole 2014, Fiducia, Ostrava, 2014, ISBN 978-80-906016-0-4
12th auction salon of artists (catalogue), Nadace Charty 77, Praha, 2014
Auction catalogue, Veronica Foundation, Brno, 2014
The three candles for the future, pg.101-103, Václav Cílek (ed.), Novela Bohemica, Prague, 2012, ISBN 978-80-87683-02-6
First visit to the collection spouses Zeman (catalogue), Gallery Sladovna - Žatec, 2012
Eko Bio (catalogue), Brno, 2010
Kluci a holky, co jim to nevadi (catalogue), culture83, Česká Bříza, 2010, ISBN 978-80-904550-2-3
10th auction salon of artists (catalogue), Nadace Charty 77, Praha, 2010
Doma v MORAVSKÉM KRASU, seasonal newspapers for the area of Moravian Karst, spring 2010, pg. 4, article “Václav Cílek: Rudice and Býčí skála cave”, MK ČR E 17 343
909 Art from the Turn of the Millennium in the National Gallery in Prague Collections 1990-2009, Milan Knížák, Tomáš Vlček, National Gallery, Prague, 2009,
ISBN 978-80-7035-438-4
Atelier, 23/2009, pg.3, Oheňíhit (With few words), 2009
Orfeus / Kniha podzemních řek (illustrations), Václav Cílek, Dokořán, Prague, 2009, ISBN 978-80-7363-244-1
Nový prostor, 335/2009, pg.23, Svitava a hosté, Jiří Ptáček ml., 2009
Mimochodem - By the Way, Ludmila Fidlerová, Barbora Svátková, Masaryk University - Faculty of Education, Brno, 2009, ISBN 978-80-210-4825-6
Stuck in the Middle of November II (catalogue), Dolmen Gallery, Brno, 2008, ISBN 978-80-238-6546-2
15 yrs of FaVU VUT in Brno, pg. 50, 176, Vutium, Brno, 2008, ISBN 978-80-214-3633-6
Umění a řemesla, 1-2/2008, pg. 64, Legendary "macro-ball", Hana Primusová, 2008
Magazine A2, 43/2008, Tips, 2008
Atelier, 5/2008, pg. 12, The Award of (the Magnificent / Surviving Five) Critics, Jitka Hlaváčková, 2008
The Critics Prize for Young Painting (catalogue), Gallery of Critics, Prague, 2008
The Sportmen of the Year of Brno city, the evening guide and auction catalogue, 2007
Stuck in the Middle of November (catalogue), Dolmen Gallery, Uherské Hradiště, 2007, ISBN 978-80-254-0806-3
Atelier, 21/2007, pg.7, The Soul in the Time, Kateřina Pažoutová, 2007
MF Dnes – Central Bohemia, 8.7.2007, Students exhibit with their teacher, Zdeněk Hejduk, 2007
Atelier, 10/2007, pg.5, The Fluid Arskontakt?, Helena Hradská, 2007
Arskontakt Balance, catalogue, Brno, 2007
4th pre-Christmas benefit auction of visual artworks (catalogue), pg.11, Veronica Foundation, Brno, 2006
8th auction salon of artists (catalogue), Nadace Charty 77, Praha, 2006
Atelier, 25-26/2006 (double issue) pg. 11, Punkwa, Marie Haškovcová
Magazine A2, 47/2006, Galerie (Vážnost a nevážnost Jana Karpíška), P. Vaňous
Magazine A2, 46/2006, Depeše (Punkwa Blues, pomalu a line), Edith Jeřábková
Magazine A2, 23/2006, I Watch - review of an exhibition, Petr Vaňous, 2006
Bienále, bienále, bienále, magazine Výtvarná výchova, 3-4/2006, P. Ondračka
Atelier, 22/2005, pg.5, Jan Karpíšek's Time of Painting (exhibition, Brno / Artkontakt Gallery, 16.9.-15.10.), Pavel Ondračka, 2005
(International Bienale of Contemporary Art 2005), Aleš Svoboda, 2005
IBCA 2005, pg. 300,301, National Gallery Prague, 2005, ISBN 80-7035-301-5Atelier, 16-17/2005, pg.4, Druhý pohled
Artkontakt – Student Competition, 2nd year Catalogue, Brno, 2005
České noviny, Martin Mainer Studio v Městském divadle v Brně, R. Janás, 2004
Contacts 2004 / 5th international symposium of art academies (catalogue - czech and  english version), Gallery Klatovy Klenová, 2004
7th auction salon of artists (catalogue), Nadace Charty 77, Prague, 2004
Literární kabaret, Pavel Magda & Lukas Henzl, Magda Printhouse, Brno, 2003
FaVU VUT Brno 1993 – 2003, FaVU Brno, 2003, ISBN 80-214-2495-8
Atelier (biweekly published art magazine), 10/2002, pg.5, Exhibition of Studio Painting II in Kutná hora, Petr Vaňous, 2002
Atelier Tomáše Rullera 1992 / 2002, FaVU VUT Brno, 2002, ISBN 80-88675-82-0

projects
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Curator of exhibitions in ponava.cafe (2017–2020)
Editor of fine arts in revue Weles (2017–2018)
Curator of exhibition Koprivy of 17 artists on one topic, 06/2015
Participated in VýTěr happening, Week of The Visual Culture, Brno, 11.3.2014
Participated in a socio-art symposium "Chaos Start 2012" in Střítež u Poličky
Participated in an international symposium "Small format 2011" in Hodonín
Member of art group Svitava (11/1/2009 – 13/3/2014)
Member of art group Blaze (since 1/10/2008)
Member of art group Punkwa (02/2005 – 10/1/2009)
Participated in an international symposium "Contacts 2004" in Klenová
Co-founder and manager of Artfest Třeboň 2004

Download the whole Curriculum Vitae as PDF

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