“I make heroes on a supra-human scale because they are powerful heroes and gods. The people who lived for the gods died with them. I have respect for heroes and gods and in my work, and try to reflect on and give life to old heroes who transform into new forms. The fact they are often just cutouts or cramped bodies around the perimeter of the frame reinforces my belief that this gives them more emotions and depth, immortality, and fragility, or even coarseness and softness.”
S educing the viewer with bold, sculptural lines and an exuberant palette, Vojtěch Kovařík's Theseus entered the Labyrinth (2021) is a boldly modern representation of the Greek mythological figure. Summoned in an elegant fluidity of curves, the present work is a standout of the young Czech artist’s body of work. Executed on a monumental scale, the larger than life figure of Theseus is bathed in a luminous, otherworldly light, capturing the artist’s fascination with the figures of the ancient world. Theseus, the heroic figure who, according to legend, was the founder of Athens from Greek mythology. The most infamous myth around Theseus is his slaying of the Minotaur, a creature who is half man and half bull. Theseus, as is the subject of the present work, is able to traverse the monster’s maze by carrying a thread of gold given to him by the daughter of his enemy. This thread of gold, along with the hero's sword, glistens with a hazy light in the present work, with Kovařík reimagining the scene in his distinctive idiom, blowing the figure up to heroic proportions.
When asked about his inspirations, Kovařík describes “Movies, music, heroes, monsters and animals, Greek mythology, film noir posters, mistakes, everyday life, the perfection of the human body (especially eyes, muscles, and fingers), and certainly works of other emerging artists inspire me the most” (V. Kovařík, quoted in Format Team, “Spotlight on Vojtěch Kovařík,” Format Magazine, September 5, 2018). With his larger than life proportions, Kovařík examines the stereotypes of masculine power and bravado that dominate ancient legend. This process of exaggeration, in which the artist’s figures are barely contained within the frame, infuses a humour and pathos to his compositions; their heroic postures becoming distinctly frail and introspective. Possessing a sculptural physicality informed by the artist’s formal training in sculpture, the smooth, marbled skin of the figure resembles a Henry Moore, an effect heightened by the artist’s use of a handmade spraying device, which creates an almost stone-like texture, resembling “the patina of a statue” (V. Kovařík, quoted in S. Bogojev, ‘Inside a Hidden Garden: A Conversation with Vojtêch Kovařík’, Juxtapoz, 26 February 2020). The statuesque figure of the present work emotes through gestures taken from classical sculpture, recalling ancient Greek statues. Reconstructing these figures which have become, over the course of millennia, integral to European and Western identity, Kovařík’s giant, masculine characters are reduced to caricatures.
Born and raised in the Czech Republic, Kovařík was inspired by the national socialist art strategies prevalent throughout the bloc before the collapse of the USSR. Adopting the principles of simplicity, striking use of colour, exaggeration and claritys , Kovařík examines the traditions of socialist iconography by dismantling the power structures inherent to image making.
In humanising the Herculean figures of the ancient world that are so distant, Kovařík narrates the dilemmas of contemporary life, taking his place within a long tradition of contemporary artists who have mined the legends of antiquity: from Francis Bacon and Cy Twombly to Andy Warhol and Damien Hirst. When combined with influences gleaned from his Czech upbringing, from Brutalism to Soviet-era posters, Theseus entered the Labyrinth is a compendium of archetypes, a painting of uncommon grace and elegance which typifies the very best of the young artist’s oeuvre.
我創造出超越人類體型規模的英雄，皆因他們是力量強大的英雄和神祇。那些為神而活的人們與神共生同死。我在我的作品中，試圖反映我對英雄和神的無上尊重，並以新的形態賦予這些古老英雄們新生。它們常僅以輪廓剪影或是困迫在畫框中的身影呈現，這使我更相信，我的做法能讓祂們更具情感和深度、不朽和脆弱、甚至粗糙和醇厚等特質。。」
沃 伊泰克・科瓦里克的《走進迷宮的忒修斯》(2021)以大膽的雕塑式線條和活潑豐沛的用色引誘著觀眾，是對希臘神話人物的現代化大膽詮釋。本作優雅流暢的線條，可謂這位年輕捷克藝術家作品中的傑出代表。作品尺幅巨大，畫中超群不凡的英雄沐浴超脫塵世的明亮光芒之中，捕捉了藝術家對古代人物的著迷。根據傳說，希臘神話裡的英雄忒修斯，是雅典的建立者。忒修斯最著名的故事是他殺死了半人半牛的米諾陶洛斯。而本作主題，是忒修斯得敵人的女兒贈予他的金線團引導，才得以成功穿越怪物的迷宮。科瓦里克以他獨特的繪畫風格重新詮釋了這一個名場景，他將人物比例放大，以媲美英雄的雄偉，而畫作中的金線和英雄的劍在朦朧的光芒中閃耀。
當被問到他的靈感來源時，科瓦里克表示：「電影、音樂、英雄、怪物和動物、希臘神話、黑色電影的海報、錯誤、日常生活、完美的人體（特別是眼睛、肌肉和手指的部分），當然還有其他新興藝術家的作品，是我最大的靈感來源。」（沃伊泰克・科瓦里克，引自 Format Team，〈聚焦沃伊泰克・科瓦里克〉，《Format Magazine》，2018年9月5日）通過誇大筆下人物超的呈現比例，科瓦里克檢視了在古代傳說中由陽剛力量和莽撞逞能所主導的刻板印象。在誇張化的過程中，他所繪製的人物幾乎無法被框限在畫面中，這反而為構圖注入了一種幽默和情感渲染力；這些人物的英姿頓時變得脆弱和內省。
藝術家曾學習雕塑創作，因此，觀者能從其作品中觀察出雕塑物理特性。例如，人物如大理石般的光滑皮膚質感，仿若亨利·摩爾(Henry Moore)的作品，而藝術家使用手工製噴霧繪製出石頭般的紋理，好比模仿出雕像的銅鏽層。（沃伊泰克・科瓦里克，引自S. Bogojev，〈Inside a Hidden Garden: A Conversation with Vojtêch Kovařík〉，《Juxtapoz》，2020年2月26日）畫作中的主角借鑒了古希臘雕像的姿勢，增添其雕塑感。在科瓦里克的重塑下，這些數千年來已融入歐洲和西方身份象徵的人物角色的巨大和陽剛，反而顯得滑稽而諷刺。
科瓦里克出生和成長在捷克共和國，受到蘇聯解體前，在該區域普遍出現的國家社會主義藝術策略的啟發。科瓦里克透過拆解圖像創作中固有的權力結構—運用簡潔、鮮明色彩、誇張和明確等原則—檢視社會主義圖像學的傳統。藝術家通過將遠古世界中的神氏偉人人性化，述說當代生活的困境，並延續了當代藝術家們從古老傳說中獲取靈感的長久傳統，當中包括了弗朗西斯·培根 (Francis Bacon)、塞·托姆布雷(Cy Twombly )、安迪·沃荷(Andy Warhol ) 和達米恩·赫斯特(Damien Hirst)等等。從粗獷主義到蘇聯時期的海報，《走進迷宮的忒修斯》結合了捷克給予藝術家的成長環境與文化熏陶，匯聚了科瓦里克藝術語彙的精粹，是一幅擁有脫俗典雅氛圍的畫作，更是這位年輕藝術家創作至今的一幅典範。