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Vladimír Kordoš

Vladimír Kordoš

Born January 22 1945, Nemecká Ľupča

Slovak painter, drawer, action and conceptual artist extending into intermedia art and video art. Kordoš belongs to the second wave of Slovak action art (Milan Adamčiak, Lúbomír Ďurček, Peter Meluzín, Róbert Cyprich, Michal Kern, Július Koller, Peter Rónai, Peter Kalmus, etc.), whose pioneers were Alex Mlynárčik, Stano Filko, Peter Bartoš and Jana Želibská. Member of the A-R Group (Avance–Retard).

In 2009, Rudolf Fila, Kordoš’s teacher, characterised his former student’s work as follows: “In connection with the creative output and, above all, the basic disposition of Vladimír Kordoš, the question arises about the action radius of the spectacular principle in art. Especially in the interspace this principle occupies between visual and theatre art. Somewhere here lies the roots of Kordoš’s creativity. His work is dominated mainly by interpretations or reinterpretations of classic artistic impulses. Kordoš removes the image with mimetic potential from its reproductive stagnation and activates it into a ‘living image’ through reincarnation. This is how theatre performances ended in the past. With Kordoš, however, a new image begins. Aware of the danger of perceptive stagnation, the author revitalises the image by doubting without doubt. In this way, he effortlessly solves the interesting problem of the relationship between materialisation and dematerialisation.”
(Ladislav Daněk)

Photo: Archive of SME – Tomáš Benedikovič

1960

In 1960–1964, he studies at the Secondary School of the Arts in Bratislava in the Department of Arrangement and Exhibition with Professor Rudolf Fila. In addition to arrangement and exhibiting, he specialises mainly in figural drawing and painting.

1965

In 1965–1971, he continues his studies at the newly opened Department of Glass in Architecture at the Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Bratislava under Professor Václav Cigler. In addition to fulfilling the study tasks of the field of glass, he creates décollage pieces and abstract paintings (the influence of informel and gesture painting). At the same time, he also creates figural pieces, which, unlike his secondary school work, have a distinctly expressive character. Upon graduation, he is briefly employed as a graphic designer for the magazine Život.

1970

Hommage à César
Hommage à César (sculpture)


1972

At the time of normalisation, he maintains artistic and personal contacts with friends from the future A-R Group (founded in 1991), with whom he also exhibits at semi-official shows. Their activities built on and, in their own way, responded to the experimental trends of the 1960s, especially to action, conceptual and intermedial manifestations. An important milestone in Kordoš's creative development is his participation in the First Open Studio in the Bratislava house of Rudolf Sikora (Tehelná 32). He has several installations at this event with William Jakubík and Marian Mudroch (Atmosféra [Atmosphere] 1970

1973

Teacher at the Department of Promotional Graphics at the Secondary School of the Arts in Bratislava (from 1994, the Josef Vydra School of Applied Art).


1980

Around 1980, the second chapter of the artist's work begins, with Kordoš citing, reinterpreting and paraphrasing the most important works of art of the past that he admires most. For example, Kordoš and his artist friends physically reconstruct famous paintings by Velázquez, Rembrandt van Rijn, Caravaggio, Raphael, Caspar David Friedrich and others, which he has photographed or filmed. The most important of these works include: V. Kordoš/Rembrandt van Rijn, Return of the Prodigal Son, 1980
Lunch
Lunch (photography)
Young Sick Bacchus
Young Sick Bacchus (photography)




1984

Fotografie na okraji (group exhibition, Prague)


1986

Photographs (solo exhibition, Bratislava)

1989

Interpretation (solo exhibition, Brno)

1990

In the 1990s, Kordoš regularly participates in the International Festival of Alternative Art (later Transart Communication) in Nové Zámky. In 1990, he prepares for the festival the performance Homage to Richard Brautigan, in which he recites the author’s work. He co-founds the A-R Group (Avance–Retard) with: Milan Bočkay, Klára Bočkayová, Ladislav Čarný, Daniel Fischer, Otis Laubert, Marián Meško, Igor Minárik, Marián Mudroch, Monogramista T.D.). The group has its first official exhibition in Bratislava in 1991. However, their joint activities date back to the end of the 1970s at alternative exhibitions at the Slovak Academy of Sciences organised by František Mikloško. In 1993, Kordoš participates in one of the exhibitions of the extensive Close Encounter – Near Encounter project (Bratislava – Amsterdam), which compares Dutch and Slovak art, dance and literature in an engaging manner. As part of the project, Kordoš participates in an exhibition at the Bratislava City Gallery (Pálffy Palace) entitled Bratislava – Cultural Identity, which is conceived as a dialogue between contemporary artists and masters of Central European origin of the 19th century. Kordoš installs his work in a room with the large Portrait of the Family of the Bratislava Businessman Filip Scherz, portraits of Mrs. and Mr. Roykovec by Jakab Marastoni and Winter Landscape by Remi van Haanen. The paintings were supplemented with two period sculptures. Kordoš added a small table with chairs to the portrait of a family gathered around a table with papers. The artist placed a modern lamp, writing supplies and a playing radio on the table. Kordoš then attached digital watches to the mentioned sculptures. The painting Winter Landscape was the focal point of the installation. Kordoš set a television showing a looped video next to the painting. The painting and moving screen were divided by precisely 140 years. However, this was more than just a period contrast of the static and kinetic, but especially the new meanings of the given motif, since the video on the screen evoked the imaginary alternation of the seasons on canvas. As such, this work anticipated the current trend in exploring the relationship between past and present. In 1997, Kordoš creates two videoclips. The first (Akčná inscenácia v Kittsee [Action Scene in Kittsee]) is made at a meeting of Austrian and Slovak artists in the palace park in Kittsee, Austria. The work depicts a nude child entering the sunlit park while blowing soap bubbles. When this opening, almost dreamy, entry of Little Eros is over, a pair dressed in local costumes walks into the park singing a sentimental song. The peaceful scene is then drastically disturbed by a passing Kawasaki motorcycle. This endless loop filmed at the site of the former glory of one noble family, speaks on the one hand to the diversity of artistic expression, but also the contradiction of human dreams and actions. In the second video, Madonna and Child, Kordoš updates the painting by Giovanni Bellini. According to Radislav Matušík, in this clip, “a Biblical miracle enters into a dialogue with the miracle of our everyday life”. (2011) In the following years, Kordoš continues his work interpreting Baroque motifs with large photo canvases. In the 1990s, he also continues to draw and paint while building on his early work. These works are collectively described as elementary drawings and paintings. In the 1990s, he exhibits with the A-R Group in Paris (1990), New York (1991), Ulm (1992), Karlsruhe, Barcelona, Brussels (1993), Sydney, Canberra, Melbourne (1994) and Mamburg (1994).

1991

Dream about Museum (group exhibition, Žilina)

1992

Minisalon (group exhibition, Prague)

1994

It has already been (solo exhibition, Bratislava)

1999

Interpretations (solo exhibition, )
Then and Now (solo exhibition, Nové Zámky)

2000

Interpretations (solo exhibition, Trnava)
Vladimír Kordoš (solo exhibition, Žilina)
20th Century - History of Slovak Visual Arts (group exhibition, Bratislava)

2001

Interpretations and Tributes (solo exhibition, Banská Bystrica )
Umenie akcie (group exhibition, Bratislava)
A-R csoport (group exhibition, Budapest)
Umenie akcie 1989 – 2000 (group exhibition, Poprad)

2002

Madona v slovenskom výtvarnom umení (group exhibition, Nitra)


2005

The Second Touch (group exhibition, Brno)

2007

Príbeh skupiny A-R (group exhibition, Nitra)


2009

From Z to A (solo exhibition, Ostrava)
Out of the City. Land Art (group exhibition, Košice)



2017

CS Conceptual Art of the 70s (group exhibition, Brno)

Muzeum umění Olomouc 2011-2024