Exhibitions of Jozef Jankovič can always be considered important events. The exhibition of his work at the Danubiana was like that. He is indisputably one of the greatest figures of modern Slovak art. In the 1960s he participated in the Confrontations movement and became the leader of the avant-garde movement in the former Czechoslovakia. The character and significance of his work, created over the period of fifty years, secured him the leading position on the Slovak art scene, but he also entered the international scene. He inventively influenced the development of almost all media: sculpture, relief, drawing, collage, graphic art, jewellery, monumental work and graphic design. As a teacher he also influenced the education of the young generation. The iconographic model of his work – a deformed figure with enlarged limbs – became the paradigm of modern Slovak painting. At the same time he succeeded, while convincingly preserving the inner continuity and identity of his work, in receiving new stimuli and innovating his work. The philosophy of his work permanently diagnosed and attacked the crisis of the former political system, exposing him and his work to continuous attacks from the establishment. Consequently, he was banned from the official art scene. The relationship between art and reality in Jankovič’s work acquired an urgent and disquieting form, reflecting the state of conscience and consciousness.
