Martin Kuriš - Lola

Martin Kuriš (1973) studied Academy of Fine Arts in Prague. He is the author of narrative painting cycles and children books, marionette woodmaker and pedagogue. His large series are populated by figures inspired by the author´s closest environment, who take part in stories at the edge of reality and fiction. Some of his stories are fairy-tale-like, others fabulous, its atmosphere and treatment being bleakly baladic. Among his works are: Professor Frankenstein, Petr and Lucie, Navarana, Don Giovanni, Sad Fisherman, Magda, or Baryk.

Lola is a socially tuned ballade about a girl, who leaves her hamlet home where she lives with her mother and little brother, and sets off for a journey to a big city. After a number of transforming advantures she returns back home. Lola is partly inspired by the real events, and likewise the characters, visually inspired by author´s family, the landscapes of the story clearly reflect the melancholic scenes of České středohoří area where Martin Kuriš lives and works.

The naivistically realistic form of the paintings remind us of amateur village painters depicting local legends and corners, as well as medieval cycles with the lifes of saints. The key feature is the colour scheme, which also defines the main character Lola, dresses in yellow. Also the light is important, which comes from the back and fulfils evenly the whole scene. But Lola has also something in common with comix, despite of its large formats (up to 280 to 200 cm). The paintings depict the parts of the story divided into 4 chaptures, accompanied with the text. They were not created in chronological order, but for 3 years, the gaps in between the few main large-format key events were gradually filled in with the smaller scale paintings and drawings, and also several marionettes. The story is written in simple, austere sentences, that are in contrast with the dramatic character of the events they describe - remind us of the style of old chronicles. The author is not surprised by anything that happens, and he shares this stoic approach with his character Lola: she accepts all the twists with tame quietness (only viewer/reader is constantly amazed). But the paintings are not just the illustrations of the text, especially those pivotal ones function as an independent unity, depicting timeless and general scenes (flood, wedding, school...). Each of them could be the beginning of another elaborate story...

Lola is presented in Jihlava for the first time. The catalogue is published by The Faculty of Art and Design of The J. E. Purkyně University in Ústí nad Labem, where Martin Kuriš teaches.