Juraj Bartusz — Osum Twelve

Juraj Bartusz is one of our most important intermedia artists. He focuses on sculpture, painting, conceptual work, performances and actions. He is a member of the generation of artists who entered the art scene in 1960s. His diverse and multi-level work contains both figurative positions and abstracts, minimalistic and expressive comments, conceptual thinking and socially critical responses. Some of his characteristic features are action and expression of space, time and movement. These are the characteristics of his space-time plastics and reliefs – variable artworks that change their appearance over time. Some of his reliefs are actual kinetic objects and besides movement, they also make a use of sound effects. Apart from his geometrical compositions he spent a lot of time working with the human figure, specifically the motive of an astronaut. He experimented with digital sculpting using computers, but his latest work returns back to more subtle styles. For example, in the “Illuminations” cycle he uses indigo on tracing paper. The part of his oeuvre using action is devoted to time and the way it is recorded. These works include gestic and expressive paintings created in a very limited amount of time – sometimes only a few seconds, or objects made by throwing things (like bricks) into hardening plaster. Bartusz uses these to record the energy of his motions. These unique pieces, even in the international context, record explosive bursts of the artist’s concentrated energy. Considering the artist incorporated here his own body, these actions sometimes led to his complete physical exhaustion.

The action painting titled Osum Twelve was created in Nitra’s Old Theatre on May 27th, 2004 as a part of the OSUM 12 event which was a part of a series of educational evenings about fine art that presented important personalities of the Slovak and Czech art scene. The evenings were organised by artists and teachers Miroslav Nicz and Jaroslav Košš in cooperation with the Nitra Gallery and the Department of Creative Arts and Art Education at the Faculty of Education at Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra. This piece follows a new technique – painting by pounding a wooden or rubber slab – which was developed by the artist himself in the second half of the 1980s. It is a combination of a printmaking process of printing a matrix with the use of an action painting gesture. The rectangular shapes were created by pounding a thick rubber band dipped in black colour. They were interrupted by an expressive painting session that lasted only a few seconds. The chosen shapes and colours create a dynamic and dramatic contrast, but they are based on the same principles: short time, concentrated energy, trace of the author’s physical imprint. His destructive physical energy is joined together with his creative spiritual energy. 

In 1988, Mr. and Mrs. Ševčík wrote this about the meaning of the gesture in Bartusz’s art: “Bartusz stood by the action principle… he introduced some content into a gesture and thus changed its outcome. He does not look at themes and at literature in the same way as the young generation. He only allows for associations. He is inspired by the imprint of a movement which generates images in our memory and stabilises gestures into a statement. However, neither the gesture nor the induced association of a story have a predetermined intention. They complement each other and keep a safe distance from reality. They’re a free simile that cannot be focused. The gesture is no longer used just for expression and self-demonstration of an existence, but for communication.” [1]