About the author
I am a somewhat non-comformal artist who uses a combination of various art techniques.
Drawer, humorist and sledge representative PETR URBAN, who also lives in Smržovka, said about my work "YOU WILL, YOU HAVE TO WIN WITH IT, OTHERWISE NO ONE GIVES YOU THAT MONEY AND THOSE LEDS YOU GIVE THERE ARE ON HIM..." - and he was wrong :-). Several important people have already found their way to me. I humbly thank them for that.
I have never been influenced by other people's opinions and criticism. In the first order, I was never concerned with the general masses liking my stuff. Today I try to be true to myself in everything.
In advance, let me share with you my unpleasant, now overcome LIFE STORY of how I came back "BACK TO LIFE" through my art.
I almost never made a big deal out of anything, the world around me didn't affect me much and I went my own way.
I was happy as long as the injunctions and "pigeonholing" didn't come. I did badly at school - especially in the exactic subjects. Primary school was daunting for me. I often heard "What will you be one day?" I attended the People's School of Art - art. I enjoyed that. Then I also used to hear "You'll have to go to some art school, but you don't have the grades for it!!!".
It often happened and happens to me that someone asks me a question (or gives me a task), and I answer him in such a way that he doesn't understand my answer (or action) - because my thinking is "rotated" compared to the usual habits - I look at things from a different point of view. So it seems that I tend to be "off".
So with my primary school grades, I had no choice but to go to an "apprenticeship". Here I miraculously improved my grades and was able to take the entrance exams to the secondary art school (SUPŠS Ž.Brod). Thank God. I was happy again - until the end of college (FUUD).
Then "normal" life started and I emotionally returned to the primary school I didn't need. It was clear that I was going to work in a small family business. But the uncreative work with irregular hours was killing me - I just couldn't see any light at the end of the tunnel.
After some time of suffering, the inevitable decision was made to find a job that at least had something to do with my field.
In spite of being a graphic designer, exhibition designer, photographer and producer, I ended up working for the longest time in a graphic studio in Jablonec nad Nisou.
My wife was then on maternity leave and I needed every penny. Because of the higher wage, I also became a cleaner with whom the boss was constantly dissatisfied. The reproaches from the management multiplied and so did my dissatisfaction. Every day at work became more and more mentally demanding for me.
The seventh year in this job was fatal, thank God - I burned out. And not only mentally. When I didn't let the subtler signs tell me, the physical ones came too. First the soul is sick and then the body.
So one weekday I woke up with a blocked back neck and arm. At the call of the alarm clock I got up wanting to get dressed despite the paralysis and the pain in my body - after all, it is necessary to obediently go to work, earn money, pay the bills, and most importantly, to please my employer who keeps me alive. It is important!!! My wife watched my futile efforts to get dressed and told me emphatically "You can't be serious, you want to go to work!!!".
That's when my mind "shut down" setting a person in a box that I was never really comfortable in and never achieved any major success in. It wasn't really me all along. With boundaries around and within the box, I couldn't develop!
I don't want to anymore! I just resigned with the vision of my own independent realization and, most importantly, to start creating art again - that's where my potential is. That's what I enjoy. I've been successful in this field.
After all, fine art is about a specific person, an artist who transcends the boundaries of the "box".
This feeds my soul, which for many years languished and cried out for creation - I misheard my soul and thought it better to listen to others to pay the bills. I didn't understand at all that the cost of living would be paid easily and with joy if I did what I enjoyed and found fulfilling. One must not be afraid and give oneself confidence.
I quit my job, started working intensely as an artist, started my printmaking practice, had my first exhibition after a big creative hiatus, and most importantly, I healed. I rode a new wave and returned to a happy and full life. It made life more enjoyable for my family too. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
I have come to understand that life cannot be lived against the tide, but only and only in the tide. If one wants to do something good for oneself, then it is good for others. The whole universe will come together to help him do it. One must not go against oneself, but try to listen to oneself (not to others). He needs to "reprogram" himself to find the creative power within himself that he has been given. I didn't believe that until a few years ago.
If perhaps my story inspires you, the "coming out" was worth it to me. May you be well :-)
I am a member of the Artists' Union of the Czech Republic.
Grand Prix for glass design - International Fair of Glass and Ceramics Prague 1999.
International Poster Exhibition on SOLIDARITY - Prague 2003 - fourth place.
International Clothing Exhibition - Finland 2004 - second place.