“4serie” is an exhibition of photographs by Czech artist Pavel Mára, including works from the entirety of his career. It’s available until April 29th 2022 in the Galeria Katowicka in Katowice.
Pavel Mára was born in Prague in 1951. He studied to become a photographer and a film operator at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague. The beginning of his career was in the 1970s when the communist regime was still very strong in Czechoslovakia and the indicated trend in art was socialist realism. He went against it, creating very abstract, heavy geometrical shapes and experimental works. He was one of the first people who made photos and the biggest propagator of this technique.
Mára likes to experiment with his photos; sometimes with camera lenses, then with colours, shapes and compositions. He mostly creates a series of photographs with specific abstract themes. To avoid repressions, his professor and authority in photography Ján Šmok explained his works in a way that conformed with the governmental rules. Mára’s works were quickly acclaimed by critics in Western Europe.
He’s now a lecturer at the Institute of Creative Photography in Opava. He also curates exhibitions of his oeuvre, such as “4serie”. His works are on display in Galeria Katowicka in Katowice (Silesia) until April 29th, 2022.
You can watch a promotional video below.