1998 - 2006
Oil on canvas
Dimension: 221 x 190 cm
Verso signed, inscribed and dated “Jan Merta “MATNÝ SOUDCE” 1998 - 2006”

Painter Jan Merta graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague as at an adult age, and thus approached his work in a very responsible way from the very beginning. His art is rather difficult to classify – even art theoreticians agree that he moves along the line between two “somethings”: between presence and absence, between reflection and direct experience... His paintings are silent, calm, non-pathetical, but at the same time immensely suggestive. They might also be described in terms of “transcendence”, “timelessness“, “magic”. Merta’s canvases often display particular objects (a collar, house, animal, rock, veil, mushroom and so on), but it cannot be said with certainty that they tell a story. They are characteristic of a certain mysteriousness – as if they weren’t just paintings but, instead, somewhat deeper spaces that invite viewers to enter. In the best sense of the word, Merta follows up with the Czech tradition of intrinsically humanist art with slightly lyrical subtext.