Martin Dzurek’s art has developed over several decades, and a selection of his works entitled Okamih (A Moment) will be on display at the Danubiana. It has an ideological and artistic background, and as he stated, “I’m thankful for every moment when I can feel the meaning that I exist.” His artistic expression is abundant and wide-ranging; it includes monumental sculpture and painting along with sculptures of a chamber character. In recent years his artistic activities have been broadened by interactive installations and performance in which he combines music, theater, photography, literature and video. In terms of ideas, he concentrates on the relationship of men and women, interpersonal relations, and religious themes. He uses seemingly unworked or patinated metal themes, bronze in particular, and occasionally wood, plaster and beeswax, and even objects trouvé, as well as principles of reflection and the symbolic meaning of negative and positive duality. A wooden object in the form of a musical instrument entitled Ostium (2022) is the culmination of his work. It is a symbolic and surreal example of the harmonization of shape and line. When combining several artistic media, he prefers unconventional places and cooperation with other artists. His more important artistic expressions from the past five years include the 2017 performance entitled Odpusti si (Forgive Yourself) held at St. John’s Chapel in the Franciscan Church during the Biela noc (White Night) festival in Bratislava; the object entitled Spojili nás (They United Us) for Jan and Martina in honor of their memory in 2019; the performance entitled Bdelosť (Vigilance) - concept and object by Martin Dzurek, music by Stroon; and Zrkadlenie (Reflection) a thirty-minute film created in 2021 and 2022 in cooperation with Daniel Pastirčák, Táňa Pauhofová, Pjoni, Stroon, Peter Pavlac and Jakub Šteinecker. Martin Dzurek lives in Modra and is actively involved in ecology and charity.
Dagmar Kudoláni Srnenská
Martin Dzurek was born on March 8, 1973 in Bratislava. His work, especially his reliefs and monumental sculptures and monuments, is abundant. He created the monumental ECAV altar in the church in the village of Krpeľany (2011), the object entitled Puzzle by the Piešťany Cultural Center (2012), the Monument of Martin Rázus in Bratislava (2013), the Monument of the Missionaries in Nitra (2015), the installation entitled Ak chceš (If You Want, 2013), created for the church in the village of Drážovce and the comprehensive artwork project entitled Gesamtkunstwerk - Kompozícia pre 12 objektov a jedno prázdne miesto (Composition for 12 Objects and One Empty Space, 2014) are among his most significant works. The performance entitled Smetisko – Súlad (Dumping Ground – Consonance, 2015) was carried out at the landfill in Dubová and was selected for the 6th Biennial of Creative Visual Arts at the Turiec Regional Gallery in Martin (2016). He frequently presents his works at Biela noc (White Night) events. In 2021 and 2022 he and cooperating artists created the thirty-minute film Zrkadlenie (Reflection). Since 2004 he has been cooperating with the Slovak Blind and Partially Sighted Union as a volunteer and he set up an art studio there. In 2007 he founded the visual arts group Svetlo (Light), whose members are blind or partially sighted.
