Zwillinge

2017 - Sculpture (Sculpture)
91 x 90 x 11.8 cm

Concerning his objects, Pozarek often relies on chance to guide him. He uses scraps of wood, boxes, hinges and doors, keeping a close eye on what position each object will assume later in the space. Although it suggests the opposite at first glance, Zwillinge is autonomous and functionless. Assembled from found wood and aluminium, and making use of empty and in-between space, it makes a quasi-serious impression, as if they have an important task to fulfill. As part of an ensemble, these objects become actors that play specific roles that can change depending on the constellation. With the specific installation of this work, the gallery’s architecture is accentuated as a frame of reference. Pozarek’s working method is anything but capricious, dreamy, or playful. He works with a target in mind, even though the formal theme of his work first emerges when he is modelling the materials.

Growing up in Czechoslovakia, Vaclav Pozarek experienced political aggression, spying and ludicrous impediments. For a long time, he was denied of almost everything; the only remaining thing allowed was for him to become a toolmaker. However, later he found work as a typographer in Pilsen. There was the official doctrine of Socialist Realism, but the fact that the art should serve a political purpose was, for Pozarek, off the cards. In 1968 he left, first to Hamburg and London, where he studied under Anthony Caro at Central Saint Martin’s School of Art, before settling in Bern. In Bern, Pozarek developed a synthesis of the Constructivist principles and the application of the arts to everyday reality. Pozarek’s practice traverses predominantly sculpture and drawing, while also incorporating installations, photography, and film.

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