Josef Mištera / Q.O.D.

The exhibition covers various periods and themes in the work of Josef Mištera, beginning with a collection of remarkable ink drawings from the 1980s titled Memories of Most. These drawings, made up of complex structures and constructions, represent Mištera's interpretation of the atmosphere of this remarkable old town, which was erased from the face of the earth by the wanton destruction of the totalitarian regime. An important stage in Mištera's evolution is represented by illustrations in which he used an expressive style and excellent sense for color combinations to capture the atmosphere of books by great representatives of world and Czech literature such as Stendhal, Sand, Gogol, Zoshchenko, and Loukotková. After dedicating many years to establishing and running the Ladislav Sutnar Faculty of Design and Art at the University of West Bohemia in Pilsen, he returned to making art a few years ago and has been working ever more intensively. He has spent the 2020s creating a number of pen-and-ink drawings, which he arranges into thematic sets such as Sudhéta (Boar Forest), Allées, Fortresses, Towers, and Islands. Our aim has not been to put together a retrospective of his work, but rather to present an exhibition in which illustrations alternate with fine-art drawings and paintings. The works have been organized by theme in such a way as to present Mištera's artistic evolution in its entirety.
Exhibition curator: Jiří Machalický