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Three Times Čutek

Three Times Čutek exhibition represents almost seventy years of the creative effort of three generations of the Čutek family of sculptors in the selection of works from the most significant periods of their creation; it also illustrates their inter-generational relationships.

Anton, Juraj, Maximilán Čutekovci

The concept of the exhibition and the publication is naturally divided into three parts according to individual authors in the chronological sequence of their creative paths. The curator of the exhibition, Karol Maliňák, includes individual works and groups of works into time relations in the period of almost seventy years of three generations of artists’ creations; he clarifies the period and conditions or situations in which individual works or concepts were created and developed. He outlines basic inspirations, motions for creation or life philosophies and attitudes, and sources on which the creations of individual authors were based. The exhibition and the publication will especially please those interested in the iconic 1960s and the search for a universal, archetypal, all-embracing form in relation to the national tradition, in the artwork of Mikuláš Galanda´s Group that represented the most progressive tendencies of the then-current art in Slovakia and which is now counted among the most famous Slovak art, but also those interested in playful, clean and attractive works that pursue the aesthetic values of the material used (wood and metal) with specific humour, a touch of nostalgia, a bit of irony, but also love of and esteem for people and life.

The exhibition and the publication also introduce significant works of authors from the Nedbalka Gallery collection.

Three Times Čutek  exhibition represents the best from the creative effort of the Čutek family of sculptors; it also illustrates their inter-generational relationships. The basis of  Anton Čutek’s exhibition collection of are plastic works from the 1960s when his individual author´s language and its cultivation were shaped, when he formulated the principles on which he built his life-work, when he was creating dynamic relations between the form and space so that the form was not a foreign element in space, accepted only conditionally, but so that the space interferes in the creation of a series of live experiments between full and empty (inserted) volumes.

The sculpting creation of his son Juraj Čutek is based on a poetic view, amazement of technology and civilization from the turn and the start of the 20th century – mainly by the breakthrough period of the automotive industry, aviation and avionics, rail transport, the world of races and technical records, but also literature, music, theatre and the circus, the period of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, and others. It is a defence of dignity, creativity, wit, human inventiveness, the spirit of exploration, and creative and human courage. Juraj Čutek builds bridges between the stages of the human being, supported by his characteristic humour and a very humane, friendly, authentic and true attitude.

Max Čutek lives the life of a modern man to whom life offers a number of opportunities and he selects which one he will use. He has spent a certain amount of time in Ireland, he cooperates in restoration projects where he uses the skills which he has acquired in his family sculpting studio, he looks after himself, paints, creates sculptures or other works rather for pleasure than as a life programme, he likes freedom and enjoys it in the true sense of the word. The intellectual contents of Max´s missions reflect the author´s world and creative philosophy. His path is open; time will show in which direction he will advance his family tradition in the future.

Anton, Juraj a Maximilián Čutekovci

The eldest, Anton Čutek, was born in 1928 in Klubin, Kysuce. He spent his childhood and early youth in Banská Štiavnica where, as a student, he would meet E. Gwerk and J. Augusta. In 1949 – 1954 he studied at the Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Bratislava, in the studio of prof. Jozef Kostka and Fraňo Štefunka . He was a founding member of Mikuláš Galanda´s Group (1957 – 1968). In addition to chamber work, throughout his creative life he also created monumental works for public spaces in numerous towns across Slovakia. He received many prizes and awards for his contribution and innovative solutions in sculpting. He participated in a number of collective exhibitions both in Slovakia and abroad; he organized several exhibitions both on his own or together with his son Juraj. He was a founding member of the Kysuce Gallery in Čadca. He lived and spent all his creative life in Bratislava, where he died in 2002.

The middle generation is represented by Juraj Čutek who was born in 1957 in Žilina. From 1972 to 1976 he studied at the Secondary School of Art and Design in Bratislava under the supervision of Ludwik Korkoš. He continued with his studies at the University of Art Design in Prague in the studio of prof. Josef Malejovský (1976 – 1983). He returned to Bratislava where he became a freelance artist. In 1989 he joined Gerulata, an association of artists. In addition to free sculpting, he focused on design and founded a design studio called CK design (with Pavol Kuzma, 1986); later, he became a founding member of Spectrum ART. During his creative life he has organized numerous individual exhibitions both in Slovakia and abroad (the Netherlands, Italy, France, Monaco, the USA, Israel, etc.); he has participated in numerous collective exhibitions both in Slovakia and abroad. He has been on many study and work trips abroad, in Paris, to the USA, the Netherlands, and elsewhere. He has organised and founded several sculpting symposia and he regularly attends many of them, both in Slovakia and abroad (the Czech Republic, France). He lives and creates his works in Bratislava.

The youngest of the artistic family, Maximilián Čutek, was born in 1984 in Bratislava. In 1999 – 2003 he studied at the Art and Design School of J. Vydra in Bratislava. In 2003 – 2004 he studied in Ireland. He continued with his studies at the Václav Hollar School in Prague (2005 – 2006, prof. Gemrot) and at the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava in the film-editing studio (2013 – 2017). He has presented the results of his creative work at several exhibitions both in Slovakia and abroad. He regularly attends artistic symposia of the Slovak fine-art scene and abroad as well. He works as a freelance artist in Bratislava.

 

Some things you can enjoy only live

Address

  • Galéria Nedbalka, n. o.
    Nedbalova ulica 17
    811 01 Bratislava
    tel.: +421 2 20 76 60 31

Opening hours

  • Open daily
  • except Mondays
  • 13.00 – 19.00
  • Open

The Origin of Modern Fine Art in Slovakia

4th floor

There were many great artists involved in shaping fine art in Slovakia at the turn of the 20th century.

Exposition detail

Modern art in Slovakia

3rd floor

Slovak fine art in the interwar period was shaping in circumstances of permanent change, which had a tremendous impact on the life of each individual.

Exposition detail

Mikuláš Galanda Group

2th floor

The activities of Mikuláš Galanda Group from 1957 to its last appearance in Berlin in 1969 played a significant role in the formation of Slovak fine art.

Exposition detail

Personalities and Phenomena

1st floor

The collection of contemporary art since the second half of the 20th century presents works of prominent artists who were crucial in determining the nature of artistic development in Slovakia.

Exposition detail