Marek Kvetan
Data storage 20.21.
Data storage 20.21.
Z chladnej zeme sa v rytmike oblých tvarov a mäkkých tieňov vynára jemne odstupňovaný diapazón bielo-sivých siluet a štruktúr. Božským okom z vtáčej perspektívy sledujeme chaos a rozmanitosť spojenia horizontál a vertikál ukotvenú hranicami kruhového pôdorysu. Počiatočná pestrosť objektov pripomínajúca obrysy a ruch miniatúry veľkomesta sa pri detailnejšom pohľade stráca a odkrýva vizuálnu ilúziu vytvorenú formou repetície rovnakých objektov. Ilúzia života a dynamiky sa zmenou fokusu – z makra na mikro – transformuje do intímnej sféry, v ktorej pociťujeme ťažkopádne spomalenie a rigidnosť zadefinovaných pravidiel, ktoré prispievajú k meditatívnemu charakteru priestorovej kompozície.
Tvorba slovenského vizuálneho umelca Mareka Kvetana (1976, Bratislava) sa v súčasnosti prikláňa k hmatateľným výsledkom a priestorovým realizáciám. Autorove sochy, objekty a inštalácie sú spolu s často používanými nájdenými materiálmi vyňaté z reality alebo ňou inšpirované. Subtílnou zmenou zadefinovaných právd prekrúca dané hodnoty a otvára mnohovýznamový potenciál symboliky materiálov a foriem. Pre Kvetanovu tvorbu je signifikantná dôvtipná pozorovacia schopnosť, inšpiruje sa banalitou bežných dní a dômyselne rekonfiguruje skutočnosť. Použitými materiálmi, veľkorysými produkciami a vedomou prácou s pop-faktorom vytvára funkčný dialóg medzi publikom a svojimi dielami. Každým novým projektom vykračuje do neznámeho prostredia a hľadá výzvy na rozvoj svojej autorskej stratégie. Odlievanie a remodelácia skutočnosti, symbolika multiplikácie či vymazávania, experimentovanie s formami a chemickými procesmi a v neposlednom rade príklon k materialite sú jeho emblematickými taktikami.
Aktuálny projekt Data storage 20.21. (2020 – 2022) prirodzene pokračuje v autorovej stratégii redefinovania všeobecne známych významov a pravidiel. Rozsiahla inštalácia, ktorá by vzhľadom na estetické formy, ale aj Kvetanove minulé projekty mohla byť výsledkom digitálnej modelácie a následnej 3D tlače, v skutočnosti vzišla z elementárnej techniky sadrového odlievania. Detailný pohľad odkrýva fyzické odtlačky stoviek kusov odpadových obalových materiálov, ktoré prešli počas lockdownového obdobia autorovou domácnosťou. Činnosť, ktorá sa spočiatku javila ako nevinné experimentovanie s nevyužitým materiálom, sa vyvinula do obsedantnej potreby odliať, zdokumentovať a archivovať všetok nepotrebný odpad. Fľaše od sladených nápojov a minerálok, kartóny mlieka či obaly z donáškových služieb – Kvetan nemoralizuje ani nekritizuje, keďže by to bola kritika do vlastných radov. Ročný odpad aktualizuje a premieňa do obrazotvornej inštalácie.
Podobne ako vo svojej ostatnej tvorbe ani teraz neponúka jednoznačnú možnosť čítania a dešifrovania svojej práce. Inštaláciu Data storage 20.21. môžeme vnímať ako kritický príspevok k téme aktuálnej environmentálnej krízy, ale takisto len ako estetizáciu banality. Na jednej strane sledujeme intímny archív jednej domácnosti, na druhej strane sa publikum ocitá v nevyžiadanej, ba priam vynútenej voyeurskej pozícii. Neprehliadnuteľný je meditatívny charakter spočívajúci v repetitívnom odlievaní a následnom uvoľnenom komponovaní abstrahujúceho obrazu, ktorý svojou formou môže pripomínať mandalu. Estetizácia odpadového materiálu má však takisto blízko ku kontrolovanej forme hoarderstva a je (pravdepodobne necielenou) ironickou poznámkou k otáznej hodnote angažovanej formy ekologicky orientovaného umenia, keďže pre planétu by bolo najprínosnejšie, keby fyzické umenie vôbec nevznikalo.
Marek Kvetan (1976, Bratislava) žije a pracuje v Bratislave. Štúdium absolvoval na bratislavskej Vysokej škole výtvarných umení, kde postupne prešiel Ateliérom sochárstva pod vedením Juraja Bartusza (1995 – 1999) a Ateliérom maľby pod vedením Daniela Fischera (1999 – 2001). V roku 1999 absolvoval študijný pobyt na Fakulte výtvarných umení VUT Brno, kde pôsobil na katedre Multimédiá-Performance-Video pod vedením Keiko Sei. Aktuálne pôsobí ako odborný asistent na VŠVU, kde vedie predmety Kresba I. – IV. V roku 2016 bol laureátom ceny Nadácie Novum, v roku 2010 finalistom cien Henkel Art.Award a Sovereign European Art Prize, v roku 2008 získal Cenu NG 333 a stal sa dvojnásobným finalistom súťaže Mladý slovenský výtvarník roka, resp. Ceny mladého výtvarníka roka Tonal (1998 a 2000). Kvetanova tvorba je zastúpená v zbierkach NG Praha, SNG Bratislava, GJK Trnava, PGU Žilina, Art Collection Telekom v Bonne, GBK Dordrecht, MOCAK v Krakove, Nitrianskej galérie či v mnohých súkromných zbierkach.
Marek Kvetan
Data storage 20.21.
Data storage 20.21.
On a cold earth, in a rhythm of rounded shapes and mellow shades, a delicately gradated range of white-grey silhouettes and structures arises. With God’s eye, from a bird’s perspective, we follow the chaotic variety of linked horizontals and verticals, held in place by the boundaries of a circular ground-plan. The original diversity of objects, bringing to mind the outlines and vesture of a miniature of a great city, disappears on a more detailed viewing and discloses a visual illusion created by a formal repetition of identical objects. By a change of focus (from macro to micro), the illusion of life and dynamism is transformed to an intimate sphere, where we feel an uncomfortable slowing and a rigidity in the defined rules, all of which contributes to the meditative character of the spatial composition.
Currently, the work of the Slovak visual artist Marek Kvetan (1976, Bratislava) inclines towards tangible results and spatial realizations. Kvetan’s sculptures, objects and installations are (together with frequently used found materials) extracted from reality or inspired by it. Subtly changing the defined rules, he distorts the received values and opens up a multi-significant potential of the symbolism of materials and forms. Important for Kvetan’s work is a witty capacity for observation; he is inspired by the banality of the everyday, and deliberately he reconfigures reality. With used materials, grandiose productions and conscious employment of the pop factor, he creates a functional dialogue between the public and his works. Kvetan strides into an unfamiliar setting with every new project, seeking challenges for the development of his artistic strategy. Moulding and remodelling reality; a symbolism of multiplication or erasure; experimentation with forms and chemical processes and last but not least, inclination to materiality: these are his emblematic tactics.
His current project Data storage 20.21. (2020 – 2022) naturally continues the artist’s strategy of redefining generally familiar meanings and rules. Seen from the standpoint of aesthetic forms as well as Kvetan’s previous projects, this expansive installation might have resulted from digital modelling and subsequent 3D printing. In reality, it has emerged by an elementary technique of plaster casting. A detailed view reveals the imprints of hundreds of waste wrapping materials which passed through the artist’s household during the lockdown period. An activity that at first seemed like harmless experimentation with unused material, grew into an obsessive need to cast, document and archive all superfluous rubbish. Bottles of sweet drinks and minerals, milk cartons, wrappings from takeaway services: Kvetan does not moralise or criticise, since the criticism would be directed at his own ranks. He updates the year’s waste and changes it to an image-creating installation.
As in his earlier work, he does not provide any unambiguous possibility of reading and deciphering his work. We may see Data storage 20.21. as a critical contribution to the theme of the current environmental crisis, but also merely as an aestheticisation of banality. On the one hand, we follow the intimate archive of a single household; on the other hand, the public finds itself in the uncalled-for, indeed forced, position of a voyeur. Not to be overlooked is the meditative character, based on a repetitive casting and subsequent relaxation in the composition of an abstracting picture, whose form may recall a mandala. The aestheticisation of waste material, however, is equally close to a controlled form of hoarding, and a (probably unintended) note on the question of the value of an engaged form of ecologically orientated art, given that it would be more beneficial for the planet if art physically was never produced at all.
Currently, the work of the Slovak visual artist Marek Kvetan (1976, Bratislava) inclines towards tangible results and spatial realizations. Kvetan’s sculptures, objects and installations are (together with frequently used found materials) extracted from reality or inspired by it. Subtly changing the defined rules, he distorts the received values and opens up a multi-significant potential of the symbolism of materials and forms. Important for Kvetan’s work is a witty capacity for observation; he is inspired by the banality of the everyday, and deliberately he reconfigures reality. With used materials, grandiose productions and conscious employment of the pop factor, he creates a functional dialogue between the public and his works. Kvetan strides into an unfamiliar setting with every new project, seeking challenges for the development of his artistic strategy. Moulding and remodelling reality; a symbolism of multiplication or erasure; experimentation with forms and chemical processes and last but not least, inclination to materiality: these are his emblematic tactics.
His current project Data storage 20.21. (2020 – 2022) naturally continues the artist’s strategy of redefining generally familiar meanings and rules. Seen from the standpoint of aesthetic forms as well as Kvetan’s previous projects, this expansive installation might have resulted from digital modelling and subsequent 3D printing. In reality, it has emerged by an elementary technique of plaster casting. A detailed view reveals the imprints of hundreds of waste wrapping materials which passed through the artist’s household during the lockdown period. An activity that at first seemed like harmless experimentation with unused material, grew into an obsessive need to cast, document and archive all superfluous rubbish. Bottles of sweet drinks and minerals, milk cartons, wrappings from takeaway services: Kvetan does not moralise or criticise, since the criticism would be directed at his own ranks. He updates the year’s waste and changes it to an image-creating installation.
As in his earlier work, he does not provide any unambiguous possibility of reading and deciphering his work. We may see Data storage 20.21. as a critical contribution to the theme of the current environmental crisis, but also merely as an aestheticisation of banality. On the one hand, we follow the intimate archive of a single household; on the other hand, the public finds itself in the uncalled-for, indeed forced, position of a voyeur. Not to be overlooked is the meditative character, based on a repetitive casting and subsequent relaxation in the composition of an abstracting picture, whose form may recall a mandala. The aestheticisation of waste material, however, is equally close to a controlled form of hoarding, and a (probably unintended) note on the question of the value of an engaged form of ecologically orientated art, given that it would be more beneficial for the planet if art physically was never produced at all.