Exhibition view, Galerie Martin Janda, 2017
Photo: Markus Wörgötter
Born 1939 in Piestany (SK)
Died 2007 in Bratislava (SK)
Július Koller was interested in gestures of universalism from a position of both voluntary and forced marginality. He systematically explored the relationship between art and alienation, or the idea of art as alienation. His work developed in critical distance to the communist authorities and their official art, and it also questioned traditions in modernism and the conventions of the Western art business. Since the mid-1960s he designed Antihappenings and Antipictures, creating a playfully ironic oeuvre that combined a Dadaist spirit with radical-skeptical stance.
Július Koller, Plus Minus UFO (U.F.O.), 1981
Indian ink on paper, 57.7 × 47.7 cm
Július Koller, Objekt (Zrkadlový), 1963
Wood, mirror, plastic, pencil, 16 × 31 × 22 cm
Július Koller, Odpadová Kultúra (Junk Culture), 1967
Mixed media on paper, 29.3 × 45.4 cm
Július Koller, UFO (Umenie Fantastického Odhmotnenia), 1971
Stamp on paper, 20 × 19.5 cm
Július Koller, Odpadová Kultúra (Junk Culture), 1966
Mixed media on paper, 44,8 × 33,2 cm
Július Koller, Univerzálny Futurologický Objekt (U.F.O.) / Universal Futurological Object (U.F.O.), 1983
Felt-tip-pen on plastic plates, depth 3.5, ø 18.5 cm