Big Drop

Bartoš's perception of painting drew on his observation of nature and its processes. He was interested in the behaviour of the pure primordial matter from which the painting is created – its aggregation, accumulation, dispersion, blending or movement under the influence of the earth's gravity. He also saw art in mundane phenomena such as the falling and melting of snow; the forest was thus for him a gallery with a permanent "programme".

He therefore understood his role in his painting experiments mainly as an initial impulse – the dripping, pouring or spilling – and the eventual recording. The large drop of black paint chose its own final shape; the artist merely gave it the opportunity to do so. The matter here, as it were, takes on a consciousness of its own, voluntarily surrendering itself to the forces of gravity.

The artist's "no-interference" painting activities were part of his effort to purify the concept of creating from unnecessary burdens and to find the so-called starting point, pure space, the primal beginning. In a way, he was criticizing the ideas of modernity, based on man's domination over the world, which he recklessly reshapes to his liking.

lab.SNG ● Atlas SNG, Content for the exhibition The Art of Fantastical Dematerialization