Presented for the first time, the exhibition showcases the creative dialogue in paintings, sculpture and graphic between three generations of the Jedlička family from Moravia – the father Quirin Sr., his sons Petr & Quirin Jr. and his granddaughter Eliška. The exhibited works range from expressive figural compositions, abstract intimations of mood and artistic hyperbole to sensitive depictions of fragility and ephemerality. Presented as part of the Profiles cycle of exhibitions.
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“At first, just the bones
covered with the little
that grows day by day.
The core already there.
Now the muscles too.
All that remains is the soul,
Which every sculptor
Makes
In their own way.“

Quirin Jedlička Jr., Socha,
Čas v nečase, Repropress, Brno 2002
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A meeting with three generations
The artistic hallmark of the Jedlička family is built around experiences which have been handed down through the generations; in their own unique way, each of the artists explores their awareness of the inherent instability of the world and their place within it through a variety of expressive means – charcoal, paint, clay, stone, metal, plastic or the written word. A feature common to all is the respect with which they approach the canvas, the sculptor’s plinth or the text. With Quirin Sr., the artist and chemical engineer, father to the next generation of sons who would continue his legacy, we enter a world of real or luminously dreamlike landscapes. With Petr, the academic sculptor and painter, we encounter the transformation of classically composed figures into vivid and dynamic creatures crying out through distorted, grimacing faces. With Quirin Jr., the artist and poet, we meditate over the lyrical colours and formal variations of the landscapes (and of ourselves) in his cycles of paintings. And in Eliška, the sculptor and painter, daughter to Petr, granddaughter to Quirin Sr., we observe the continuation and evolution of an inherited talent for art.

Meet the first generation: Quirin Jedlička Sr.
Art as a sense of order, a fulcrum and the continuity of change. The artistic approach of Quirin Sr. (*1928 – †2012) emerged from the conviction that the world can be observed, given structure and ultimately depicted through art. From his earliest childhood, he saw creativity as a means of personal expression and the reification of the self in time and space. He set out on a journey of expression and experimentation, combining abstraction and the figure through the media of watercolours, pastels, oil painting and graphics (woodcuts).

Meet the second generation: the brothers Petr and Quirin Jr.
In the generation of the twins brothers Petr and Quirin Jr. (*1953), this unified vision of the world splits into two highly divergent yet mutually reinforcing poles. Petr’s successful and tranquil life contrasts sharply with the desolation of the heads and figures of his work, tormented by existential anxiety; while Quirin’s arduous and ill-starred life, marked by his disability, gives rise to images which radiate positive energy and joyful colour.

Petr Jedlička
The crucial theme of Petr’s work is mankind and its place in the here and now, a concept to which he has returned again and again in his systematic exploration of the human figure; not as an asesthetic ideal of beauty, but as an existential question of experience – Who am I? Where did I come from? And where am I going? The precision of his skill as a painter and sculptor, underpinned by the depth of his studies and his years of practical experience, allow him to depict the figure as it balances on the border between classical realism and expressive grotesquerie. His exaggerations, deformations and disproportions are not the experiments of a self-taught artist, but rather a deliberate strategy to enter into dialogue with the world
through expressive means which often take on the appearance of the absurd. There is no place here for kindness and harmony. The figures of his works are not portraits, but distillations of anonymous emotions and character, a metaphor for the experiential state. The expressive gesture is a vital element of his artistic aims. Stark and aggressive brush strokes and heavy streaks of paint are contrasted with minimalistic lines that interpose with the obscurity of the motifs; the paint splashes and overflows to the edges of the picture frame like the signs of a struggle. His roughly modelled sculptures emphasise their mass and surface structure, revealing the traces of the external pressure he applies to their form. Painterly and sculptural concepts intersect, reflecting Petr’s belief that they are equivalent expressions of the same theme. The motifs of the head, the sculptural torso and fragments stripped of any individualizing signs present an archetypal image of mankind and shift the perception of the painting or sculpture into the universal level of human experience. With a critical and expressive air, Petr reveals human weakness, drawing our attention to stereotypical behaviour, stripping away the social mask, offering the viewer a consciously uncompromising but deeply emotional and humanistic confession.

Quirin Jedlička Jr.
Quirin convinces through his pensive, distilled responses to his brother’s expressive outcries. The outer world is overwhelming, a jarring cacophany; Quirin’s world, however, is centric, creating an inner space for silence, abstraction, a meditation in word and colour. He focuses on the details of the ordinary, the fleeting moment, the miniature event. Like his poetry, his paintings reveal a unique, inimitable sense of meaning. Quirin’s mental space is formed by his images and poems; a frozen state, yet one filled with the fully-lived moment of his perspective of the world. His painterly journey, vibrant with colour, grants the empty spaces of the image format a greater emphasis. The silent stillness, the few words of strokes of the brush; all convey the power of a message.

Meet the third generation: Eliška Jedličková
Eliška (*1998) has happily inherited a wide range of family artistic styles; her own creativity and expression has been formed in the flow of the present, where the borders between artistic approaches start to become blurred, identities break down, and the idea of a stable world is transformed into an illusion. Focusing primarily on sculpture and painting, the main theme of her work is the human figure, both on the canvas and in space, albeit without a existential emphasis as its basis. The evolution of Eliška’s work is apparent in the collection of willing and defining experiences; the sense is that of an open opportunity, an active synthesis of the preceding generations.

Three generations of the Jedlička family
Three generations of the Jedlička family – four creative personalities which form one vibrant, interconnected whole. Through the example of this artistic family, we can see how the continuation of an artistic legacy is built on the constant desire to pose new questions.

Mgr. Petr Benda, exhibition curator