Pavel Rudolf

21. june 1943

Painter, graphic artist, photographer, author of installations in space and artists' books, Pavel Rudolf is one of the important representatives of the Czechoslovak conceptual art and geometric abstraction.

From the beginning, his work closely relates to lettrism, he will continuously return to the theme of letters and text over the following years. The works displayed in Závodný Gallery refer to the geometrical structures, which Pavel Rudolf creates according to a predetermined simple rule.

A concrete point in space, that is for Pavel Rudolf, what we can possibly call, the main pillar of his work. This point can be connected to any other clearly defined point. A system of these points forms vertices of individual patterns and figures. These connectors, some sort of trajectories, are the record of linear or compound motion which creates on the canvas the final visual result. Most often in the form of thin drawing lines.

Each series of drawings and paintings are introduced by a preformulated rule in which Pavel Rudolf examines all the possibilities that a binding formulation allows him. Those works are thoroughly mapping the artist's way of thinking.

Canvases filled with draw circles are among the most interesting series. On the circles with wide radius and a centre in the middle of the canvas, are located the centres of small radius circles. Their quantity and density form a compact structure, reminding us of embroidery or wiring technique. Due to the usage of multiple colours, the painting remains intelligible to the viewer, with the possibility to retrace all centres as well as individual circles.

Artist's interventions on the printed materials /photographs, musical scores and text records/ and spatial installations reveal his bent towards conceptual art, nevertheless even then he does not lose the touch with basic elements of geometric nomenclature.

The artwork of Pavel Rudolf is tied to the town of Brno, where he lives and works. He has been present on the art scene from the beginning of the 1960s / 1959 – 1963 he graduated from the School of Applied Arts in Brno / and his work was closely followed by renowned art critic Jiří Valoch.