Jan Skorka Lauko

I was born in 1966, on the last day of Cancer, on the Slovak-Hungarian border in the town of Levice. I have been devoted to painting, drawing, and everything related to art since I was fifteen. According to eyewitnesses and evidence that can no longer be verified, however, shortly after first seeing the material world, I began reaching for pencils, brushes, and anything else that left a mark on paper. I also soon learned to secretly sneak out of my crib into the immediate surroundings, where white surfaces were a magnet for me and a challenge—much to everyone’s displeasure. My love for artistic creation and my innate optimism helped me overcome quite a few dramatic moments in life. The scent of paints, turpentine, and white canvas—these were and remain the pillars of my life. I have enjoyed all of this to the fullest, and though my life’s odometer has logged many years of experience, I still love to seek out new things—and love finding them even more. I am a hedonist, a philosopher, and a lover of beauty and the extraordinary—as evidenced by the wonderful woman who has granted me the honor of being her husband and who is a deep source of inspiration and zest for life for me. At first, my work was quite difficult to define, as it lacked firm boundaries. Each period of my life demanded its own means of expression, which introduced a certain disparity and inconsistency into my work in terms of form, style, and content. It was only after many years of searching that the genre motif became the unifying element in my paintings—a sort of mirror of life with a healthy dose of satire and a pinch of irony. Even in terms of style and subject matter, there was initially a certain duality in my paintings, which later coalesced into work brimming with dynamism, vivid color, and rich imagination. I work in oil painting, drawing, printmaking, and, to some extent, sculpture. I have left my artistic mark in many places through my paintings, and whether that mark was profound, I will leave to the judgment of the viewers. Perhaps everyone has always found a little piece of a story in one of my works... From the catalog: Some artists spend their entire lives striving to gain public recognition, hoping their work will endure and find its way into collections and exhibitions. Jan Skorka Lauko’s work has taken a somewhat different path. It does not reflect a particularly strong desire for recognition; it is neither especially groundbreaking nor systematic; it is not subject to fashionable trends; and it cannot really be classified under any particular artistic movement. Many experts often find it difficult to make sense of his work, which is why it is increasingly the subject of discussion. Jan Skorka Lauko’s work is quite difficult to grasp from a critical perspective. The artist himself emphasizes that the essence of his paintings is the simple joy of creation, even though it is not merely a matter of painting at home. The essence of his artistic work lies in a certain narrative quality of his paintings. The artist does not merely paint; he tells stories, and each of his paintings is a hidden narrative. His paintings are full of irony, satire, and a distinctive perspective with an eye for detail. The artist does not seek any artistic shortcuts. He tells a story from beginning to end. His paintings actually take shape as he works. Jan Skorka Lauko is well aware of his position as something of an outsider. Through his art, he seeks to give rather than take, and unlike today’s established artists, his work is authentic and sincere. Proof of this is the growing interest from collectors, galleries, and the general public. It is worth pondering why, what meaning, and what energy compels many non-professional painters—unschooled in art—to express themselves in such an authentic, completely free, and almost unrestrained manner regarding the world around them and life in general. It would be a mistake to attribute this to a kind of “folklorism,” since that is rooted in tradition and confined within the boundaries of specific regions. The artist’s work is difficult to squeeze into various categories, and certainly not into those of folk art. So if this is not a folk quality sprouting from a rich bed of tradition, nor is it a primitive and cheap attempt at extravagant kitsch driven by the exhibitionist ambitions of certain artists, then we must seek another explanation for this phenomenon. To enthusiasts and collectors, this offers the beautiful and pure world of Jan Skorka Lauko’s absurd stories. The talent of this gifted painter remains underappreciated, even though his work has been recognized at numerous international exhibitions in Slovakia, Poland, France, Belgium, Italy, Germany, Israel, the United States, Canada, and elsewhere. -VK-