Variables are flat, relief and plastic objects of basic geometric shapes composed of two or three perforated colored plates placed one behind the other. They are made of paper, plastic, metal or fiberboard, with holes of a certain motif cut into each layer, and painted on both sides. The layers are arranged one after the other and, depending on the type of variable, they are placed on a fixed hanging structure on a wall or inserted into the grooves of larger, stable relief plastic objects.
Each variable has its own basic composition. By rotating and changing the background of the individual plates, it is possible to create up to 768 compositions. In other words, for two years you can have a new composition every day. Many people like the fact that they can change the composition. The variable compels them to think about what would happen if they made this or that change. I only determine the basic composition to ensure that each of the three plates is visible.
Variables are my life, I think about them all the time and work on them every day - I refine and rework them; I can't exist without creation. They say that change is life and life is change, and in many ways this is true for me.
Marian Drugda
(in his own words)
Akad.soch. Marian Drugda ArtD. was born on April 4, 1945 in Detva and died on June 20, 2024. He studied in the department of consumer industry product design at the Academy of Fine Arts in Bratislava before going on to work as a designer and freelance artist. He also pursued his doctorate at the Faculty of Architecture of the Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava and taught at the Institute of Design there. He was a member of the Concretists’ Club and the international MADI movement, which brings together over eighty artists of geometric orientation from all over the world. He participated in more than 170 exhibitions and creative symposia in 16 countries and prepared 26 solo exhibitions at home and abroad. In 2015, he received the Fine Arts Fund Award for his work and contribution to Slovak fine art. In 1976, he created the first variable objects, entitled Variabily (Variables). In addition to his artistic activities, he wrote poetry.
