Vladimír Kokolia ended his stay at ArtMill with a "lecture" at the lake, on Painting and the Molecular Structure of Water. This tied into his project to float on the lake and watch the water molecules up close. So the children and two architects, Petr Kalny and Khoi Vo built him a special raft, where he floated for two days and nights, raising various flags, painted by the students, with picture symbols of his hourly needs.

About Vladimír Kokolia;

The lines of color that scramble, overlap, connect, touch down and take off again in Vladimir Kokolia's paintings create a universe of connections and disruptions. They at once find analogue in natural or microcosmic formations as well as in technical, digital configurations. A sense of order and geometry is implicit as the kaleidoscopic layers overtake each other, advancing and receding in space. If confusion exists, it is found the vastness of Kokolia's canvases and the complexity suggested in their depth. But the layered structures are also highly emotive. They are tactile, natural, and even human structures that escape the edges of the canvas and surround the viewer. If the distorted figures in Kokolia's classic drawings could ever find solace from their troubled human condition (unlikely perhaps, they've flowed from his pen tip for years) it might only be within the embrace of his painted universe.

Winner of the 1990 Jindrich Chalupecky Prize, Kokolia graduated from the Prague Academy of Fine Arts in Painting in 1981. A teacher since 1992 at the Prague Academy, Kokolia had a retrospective at the Brno municipal House of Art in 2003 and his drawings and paintings have been featured in numerous Czech and international shows since the late 1980s. Kokolia is represented in public and private collections both at home and abroad.
notes by Sarah Brock in the catalogue "Certain Traces, Dialogue Los Angeles-Prague, 2004

 

Vladimír Kokolia is currently the Head of the Graphics Studio at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague.

 

The Vast Life of Vladimír Kokolia

Vladimír's Photos of ArtMill

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