Milan Dobeš – Light and Motion
For me the basic means of expression is light and motion. The examination of light and motion in time and arbitrary repetition of emerging emotional artistic experiences create the possibility of another creative means of space-time.
First manifesto, 1961
The Nedbalka Gallery has managed to build a rather extensive collection of works by this extraordinary artist. The collection provides a comprehensive overview of artist´s individual creative periods and fundamental tendencies and directions of his body of work.
Milan Dobeš is among the few Slovak artists who have established themselves on the international art scene in the mid Sixties. His early work was influenced by Impressionism and dominated by the motif of the city of Bratislava. In the “Blue” period he focused on the achievements of French modern art, with the emphasis put on the autonomy of a picture plane and its individual structures. Since the mid-1960 he has fully engaged in constructivism, exploring the issue of light and movement. He summarised his artistic credo in two manifestos: On Light and Movement (1961), and On Dynamic Constructivism (1988). Soon he has become one of the foremost representatives of constructivist and kinetic art in the world. In 1971 he toured the United States with the American Wind Symphony Orchestra for which he created lumino-kinetic programmes. In 2001 the Milan Dobeš Musuem was established in Bratislava.