Leonardo

Sculpture: My Transformables of 1973-76Author(s): Radek Kratina and Josef HlavačekSource: Leonardo, Vol. 10, No. 1 (Winter, 1977), pp. 42-43Published by: The MIT PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1573628 .

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Leonardo, Vol. 10, pp. 42-43. Pergamon Press 1977. Printed in Great Britain

SCULPTURE: MY TRANSFORMABLES OF 1973-76

Radek Kratina* with Josef Hlavhcek**

In the 1960's, artists in Czechoslovakia, besides mani- festing a large production of rather routine modern academic figurative and non-figurative (abstract) works, showed two principal tendencies. The first stemmed from Surrealism. The second was based on non- figurative (abstract) geometrical Constructivism. I participated in exhibitions of this tendency in Jihlava (1966) [1] and in Prague (1968) [2]. Also at this time I became a member of the Concretist's Club, a group of Czech artists who were intent on breaking away from the rigid restraints of traditional rectilinear Constructi-

Fig. 2. Two arrangements of 'Transformable Structure of Linked Balls', duraluminum, height 185, base 20 x 20 cm, 1975.

Fig. 1. 'Transformable Structure of Combinable Circular Cylinders', duraluminum, height 210, base 21 x 21 cm, 1976.

* Artist living at Malesice, Blok 23/327, 10800 Prague 10, Czechoslovakia.

**Art historian living at 16 PetrovickA, 10000 Prague 10-Stragnice, Czechoslovakia. (Received 7 May 1976.)

vism. In 1968 the Club held several exhibitions in Bohemian towns and in Stuttgart, Fed. Rep. Ger. Most of the works I exhibited during this period were trans- formable constructions and such constructions continue to be of primary interest to me.

I received my training at the Academy of Arts and Crafts in Prague. For a while I worked as a textile designer and also made wooden transformable toys for children. In 1963 I decided to give up regular employ- ment and to take up the risky career of a 'free' sculptor in Prague, where I have so far managed to sustain myself. Often it has been necessary for me to avoid the purchase of materials and instead to work with used consumer products such as broom handles, matches and other 'found' objects. It was my assemblage of 1964, consisting of an open vertical box within which I placed layers of matches, some with their heads toward and others away from the viewing plane, that stimulated my interest in sculptures or constructions of a transformable kind. (Discussions of transform- ables by other artists can be found in Leonardo [3-6].)

In Figs. 1 to 4 are shown examples of transformables that I made between 1973 and 1976. They are made of iron and duraluminum. Furthermore, I have not resorted to the use of paint to introduce color but have taken advantage of the surface properties of the metals themselves, at times providing contrast by leaving some surfaces dull and giving others a high polish.

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Sculpture: My Transformables of 1973-76

Fig. 3. 'Transformable Structure of Needles with Horizontal Forward and Backward Movement', iron, 21 x 21 x 20 cm,

1973.

It is my intention to offer to people the opportunity to exercise their imagination as regards the range of possible arrangements that can be made with one of my transformables. The idea of touching a work of art is still a new one for most art lovers, but I am hopeful that gradually they will obtain aesthetic satisfaction during their leisure time by manipulating them. In this way they may be able to share with me the artistic experience of making a work of art.

References

1. Group Exhibition 'Constructivist Tendencies', catalogue (Jihlava, Czechoslovakia: Regional Gallery, 1966).

2. Group Exhibition 'New Sensibilities', catalogue (Prague: Gallery Manes, 1968).

3. X. de la Salle, Structures dejeux, Leonardo 1, 309 (1968). 4. K. Martin, Construction and Change: Note on a Group

of Works Made between 1965 and 1967, Leonardo 1, 363 (1968).

5. A. Hutchins and G. S. M6traux, Sculpture: Transform- ables with Permanent Magnets, Leonardo 4, 279 (1971).

6. E. C. G. Sebastian, My Transformable Structures Based on the Mobius Strip, Leonardo 8, 148 (1975).

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Fig. 4. 'Transformable Structure of Rotatable Conical Elements', duraluminunm, 22 x 34.5 x 24.5 cm, 1976.

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