The anniversary exhibition of one of the most important Slovak fine artists Viktor Hulík (1949) is very well known not only in the European, but also in the global milieu. The proof can be seen in many invitations to and participations in prominent European exhibition projects. In 1988, Hulík became a member of an international artists group INT ART whose objective was to bring people from different cultural backgrounds closer together. In 1990, he was the first Slovak artist to be awarded a prestigious creative grant from the Pollock-Krasner Foundation in New York. The work of Viktor Hulík has represented Slovakia all over the world: in almost all European countries, in Asia as well as in America. It thus comes as no surprise that Danubiana – Meulensteen Art Museum also wants to pay homage to Viktor Hulík and commemorate his work on the occasion of his important jubilee in 2019. The exhibition called VARIABLES (74+460/28 = 70 VH) presents a retrospective of Hulík’s recent works up until 2019. It shows works full of polarity of the unique and the ordinary, different perceptions through alternative interpretations and semantic tension which will accompany us throughout all of Hulík’s big and small movers, shifts, projections and intersections. The highlight of the exhibition are the Geo Movers which question the regularity of geometrical structure. Hulík disrupts the constructive and rational schema in these works by movement of the individual layers of the composition.
Viktor Hulík solves systematically one philosophical and artistic problem after another to artistically express the rules of this world in his own unique way, as well as the meaning of existence of the modern society, nature and things around us. He heads from a subjective and objective picture of the country towards a certain manipulation of macrocosm and thus a multiplication of the expressive possibilities of his chosen artistic means. In this exhibition in Danubiana, we will also be able to gradually enter his artistic world, change the movable plastic parts of his variables, disrupt the relationship between a static background and dynamic segments of the work according to our own rules.
The possibilities of composition and distribution, structure of macrocosm and a specific microcosm inherently include the philosophy of order and chaos, of movement in time and space. A natural outcome of Viktor Hulík’s creative work is thus the confrontation of the piece with free space, its surroundings, the ground, and thus also the infinite universe, culminating in a three-dimensional object. This greatly increases the multiple meanings of permutations, variations and transformations of the displayed works.
The variability of the original idea is accentuated in a dynamic gesture of the artist. The ability to change, variability or even volatility are the basic philosophical principles also in Hulík’s free creative work. His works present a specific geometric, linear or shape symbol given by Hulík which varies, changes and alternates and becomes a variable geometric figure. As in the artist’s work as a whole, new structures and lines overlap, pierce into space, hang on one another or uncover a new visual world with their movement. The intrinsic artistic idea is a contradiction to the technological medium – the computer, movement questions stability, as well as the dynamic questions the static. Colour was important in Hulík’s early works. It changed the whole structure of the composition. Nowadays, he uses mainly the polarity and playing with the hues of white and black. In this spatial play, he determines the juxtaposition of shapes and lines, increases or decreases relationships with contrast and underlines the tension between harmony and chaos.
PhDr. Dagmar Srnenská, PhD.
Viktor Hulík, artist, gallerist, exhibition organiser.
He has been working on the fine art scene since 1974 when he finished his studies at Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Bratislava in Professor Peter Matejka’s studio.
His works have been displayed at many solo exhibitions in many Slovak towns as well as in Prague, Brno, Paris, Vienna, Berlin, Budapest, Brussels, Moscow, Hamburg, Oldenburg, Györ, Pécs, Cleveland, Baltimore, Dallas, Herning, Reutlingen, Le Mans, Novi Sad, Zurich, Graz, Veszprem.
He has participated in more than 460 group exhibitions all over the world: in Czech Republic, Austria, Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania, Turkey, Germany, Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Switzerland, France, Spain, Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Portugal, Great Britain, USA, Canada, Russia, Mexico, Japan, Korea, Algeria, Brazil and Cuba.
