Karel Balcar

Karel Balcar (born 1966 in Lanškroun) is a Czech painter.

Life
Balcar studied at the Czech Technical University in Prague (1984-1985) and at the University of Economics, Prague (1986-1987). In 1992 he enrolled Academy of Fine Arts in Prague and graduated in 1999 from Studio of Classical Painting Techniques of professor Zdeněk Beran. Most of his exhibitions since then have been in Prague, including venues such as the Liechtenstein Palace, town hall and the Rudolfinum but also the cities of Brno, Hradec Králové and at the Czech Centre in New York City.

He lives and works in Prague.

Work
Motto: What I regard as important I paint, especially the important things that fascinate me.

A selection-oriented approach to the concept of portrayal painting, the type of specialized orientation on figures, along with characteristic content, distinguishes Karel Balcar's work from the majority of mainstream production in the Czech Republic – a conviction which has been confirmed by all the exhibits he has taken part in. Nonetheless, when one accounts for what the recent and contemporary events of the richly stratified pluralist scene of modern art in the world, it can be said with a clean conscience that an entirely evident and cogent context is at work here.

In his voluminous publication Artoday, Edward Lucie-Smith writes: "One of the most striking developments in the art of the past thirty years is the fashion in which many artists have started to re-examine the pre-Modernist past."

“Contemporary artists have, in fact, made an interesting discovery: as a result of the gulf between 20th century art and art of a distant past, they have found that there is something held in common with all the works of the masters of old – diversity – such as was once attributed only to art that was not of western origin.“ Some – mostly younger – artists are fascinated by this absurd situation. So as to avoid the danger of convention in overly cheap modern academism that runs to weeds everything in an intensely base form, they rather make a radical return to the past.

Solo exhibitions

 * 1997 Smrt před očima / Death in eyes, Lichtenstein palace, Prague
 * 2003 Autodafé, Fronta Gallery, Prague
 * 2009 Man with The Finger, Czech center, Prague
 * 2011 T2, Gallery of the Czech Insurance Co., Praha
 * 2012 In progress..., Vltavín Gallery, Prague
 * 2012 Untitled, Orlovna Gallery, Kroměříž
 * 2016 Spending Eternity, Galerie Václava Špály Praha