Jozef ŠVAČ

• 1958 - born in Bardejov (SVK)

• 1978 - 1983 - studies at the Faculty of Education, the University of Prešov (art)

• He creates in a form that does not depict figurativeness, expressed abstractly.

• He focuses on paintings, drawings and sculptures.

  Member of the Union of Visual Artists of the Czech Republic.

  Member of the Association of South Bohemian Artists.

• Individual exhibitions:

  • 2015
    - the Kaplanka Gallery, the Road, Protivín

  • - the Atrium Gallery, Among Carnations, Klatovy

  • 2014 
    - the Café Spago Gallery, In natura, Písek

  • - the Bastion Gallery, Figura in natura, Tábor

  • - the M Gallery, Metamorphosis, Milevsko

  • - the Zlatý soudek Gallery, Flowers, Vodňany

  • - the Water Tower gallery, Variations, Tábor

  • 2012
    - the Art gallery, Selection, Český Krumlov

  • - the Portyč Gallery, Woman-act, Písek

  • 1993 
    - the Šariš Gallery of Fine Arts, Quiet Space, Prešov

  • - the Tatra Gallery, Quiet Space, Poprad

  • 1991
    - the Šariš Museum, Painting and Sculpture, Bardejov

  • 1990 
    - the Cyprián Majerník Gallery, Etc.2000, Bratislava

  • 1988
    - the Small Gallery Smena, Et cetera, Bratislava

  • 1986
    - ZK JAS, Figural Composition, Bardejov

    Group exhibitions:

    • 2024
      - the Museum of Photography and and Modern Visual Media, Art in motion, Intersalon of the Association of South Bohemian Artists, Jindřichův Hradec, CZ
      

    • 2024
      - the Gallery of Serock, Workshop-ECADAE, Serock, Poland, PL

    • 2024
      - the Renaissance Castle, A point of view, Galanta, SVK

    • 2024
      - Spektrum Gallery, A point of view, Sezimovo Ústí
      

    • 2023
      - the Dobrohoř Castle, No Limits, Intersalon of the Association of South Bohemian Artists, Staré město pod Landštejnem 
      

    • 2023
      - the Dolní brána Gallery, No Limits, Prachatice

    • 2022
      - the Dobrohoř Castle, the Borders, Intersalon of the Association of South Bohemian Artists, Staré město pod Landštejnem  
      

    • - the Dolní brána Gallery, Echoes of Intersalon, Prachatice

    • - the Oto Herbert Hajek Gallery, Salve 45, Prachatice

    • 2021
      - the Museum of Photography and Modern Visual Media, In the moment, Intersalon
      of the Association of South Bohemian Artists, Jindřichův Hradec
      

    • 2020
      - the Prácheň Museum, Time, Intersalon of the Association of South Bohemian
      Artists, Písek
      

    • - Stadtgalerie Vilshofen im Turm, Vision Europa, Vilshofen, Germany

    • - Kunsthaus Böhmen, Bayerisch Einssenstein, Passau, Germany

    • 2019
      - the Mariánská Gallery, Roto-Moto, Intersalon of the Association of South Bohemian Artists, České Budějovice
      

    • - the Dolní brána Gallery, Spring Art Salon of the Association of South Bohemian Artists, Prachatice
      

    • - the US Embassy in Prague, Salve Prachatice, Prague

    • 2018
      - the Mariánská Gallery, 50 by 50, Intersalon of the Association of South Bohemian
      Artists, ČeskéBudějovice
      

    • - the Dolní brána Gallery, Continuatio Quadrati, Prachatice

    • 2017
      - the Mariánská Gallery, Continuity of the Square, Intersalon of the Association of South Bohemian Artists, České Budějovice
      

    • - Kulturmodell gallery, KunstBudweis, Passau, Germany

    • - the Dolní brána Gallery, the Square, Prachatice

    • - the St. Mark's Gallery, Crossart, Soběslav

    • 2016
      - the Hussite Museum, 20th year of Intersalon of the Association of South Bohemian Artists, Tábor
      

    • - the Dolní brána Gallery, the Association of South Bohemian Artists Membership Exhibition, Prachatice
      

    • - the Oto Herbert Hajek Gallery, Salve, Prachatice

    • - Pálfy Palace, Salve, Bratislava, SVK

    • 2015
      - the Portyč Gallery, Imprint of Man in the Landscape (exhibition of Czech, Slovak and German artists), Písek, CZ
      

    • 2014
      - Stadthalle gallery, Landscape Exhibition, Deggendorf, Germany

    • - the Kaplanka Gallery, PUB for the second time, Protivín, CZ

    • - Gallery Kapuzinestadl, Kunst Retrospektive, Deggendorf, Germany

    • 1993-94
      - the Chodov Fortress Gallery, EmmA multimedia, Prague

    • - the Tatra Gallery, EmmA multimedia, Poprad, SVK

    • - the East Slovak Gallery, EmmA multimedia, Košice, SVK

    • - Gallery Extrapol, EmmA multimedia, Niemegen, Amsterodam , NL

    • 1991
      - the Šariš Museum, Triennial-Meeting "91", Bardejov, SVK

    • - the House of Arts, Salon, Bratislava, SVK

    • - the East Slovak Gallery, Salon, Košice, SVK

    • - the Slovak Union of Visual Arts Gallery, Exhibition of C+S Association, Košice, SVK

    • - the Regional Museum, C+S, Trebišov, SVK

    • 1989
      - the Slovak House, Night of Magicians, Prague

    • - the Slovak Union of Visual Arts Gallery, Neon, exhibition of C+S, Košice, SVK

    • 1988
      - The Museum of National History, Prešparty (Confrontation of Czech and Slovak artists-co-author of the project), Prešov, SVK
      

    • - Foyer of the UND Theatre, Night of Magicians, Prešov, SVK

    • 1987
      - Čunovo, Confrontation (Czech and Slovak artists), Čunovo, Bratislava, SVK

    • - Ice Arena, Devil's Wheel, confrontation of Czech and Slovak artists, Bratislava, SVK
      

    • 1984
      - the City Gallery, "Generation 84", Youth Exhibition, Ostrava, CZ

      Symposia, plein-airs, workshops, study stays:

      • 2024 - ECADAE, Serock, Poland, international workshop
        

      • 2022 - Salve 45, Prachatice, international workshop
        

      • 2019 - George Pompidou Centre, Paris
        

      • 2016 - Salve, Prachatice, international workshop
        

      • 2015 - Kunstbaum, Munich
        

      • 2014 - Albertina, Vienna
        

      • 1993 - Vinné, Multimedia - international symposium
        

      • 1992 - Kassel, Documenta IX.
        

      • 1991 - Biennale, Venice
        

      • 1989 - Kostrino, international plein air
        

      • 1988 - Sárospatak, international plein air
        

        Representation in art collections:

        • The City of Serock, Poland, PL

        • The Prácheň Museum, Písek
          

        • The J. Jakoby Gallery, Košice, SVK
          

        • The Fine Art Gallery, Prešov, SVK
          

        • The Šariš Museum, Bardejov, SVK
          

        • Private collections in Germany, France, USA, Japan, Poland
          

        • 2014 - Organized and conducted an international workshop (Czech-German-Slovak), Písek, CZ
          

        • 2012 - 16 - Member of the Prácheň Art Meeting - author of the logo, CZ
          

        • 2016 - Member of the Union of Visual Artists of the Czech Republic, the Association of South Bohemian Artists
          

        • 1993 - 94 - Author of the project and international multimedia exhibition EMMA, SVK, CZ, NL
          

        • 1991 - Scholarship implementation - sculptures for the Slovak Fine Arts Fund, SVK
          

        • 1989 - 96 - Member of the Slovak Union of Visual Arts, C+S Association
          

        • 1987 - 90 - Expert and art curator of the Gallery of Fine Arts, Prešov, SVK
          

        • 1987 - 1st prize in the national competition (figurative painting), Most, CZ
          

• TEXTS:

  In Jozef Švač's paintings, colour is a means of creating new worlds, it penetrates through them in order to search for their essence behind them, in them.
  With emotional involvement, he subscribes to the teachers' suggestions that lead him to expose phenomena - he goes towards them through the path of expression, colour transformation and form exaggeration.
  

  MARTA HREBIČKOVÁ, the Šariš Gallery of Fine Arts, PREŠOV

  Jozef Švač applies a new way of expression in his figurative work by metaphorical shift of the depicted objects. His figure turns into a symbol, into a trace, evolves, comes into being and disappears. The paintings are thus a place for reflections, answers and messages. 
  

  MARTA RECHTORISOVÁ, the Cyprián Majerník Gallery, BRATISLAVA

  Jozef Švač's area of interest is the aesthetics of structures, the associations aroused by grids of lines of force and their points.
  The aesthetics of realism passes to the new-figurative expression by transformation and metamorphosis of bodies and figures.
  

  IVO JANOUŠEK, MB Institute, PRAGUE

  Jozef Švač has presented himself to the public several times. In 1987 he presents works at meetings and confrontations of visual artists in Bratislava, Košice and Prague and familiarizes himself with the new situation in Czech and Slovak visual arts. Inspired by the new spirit of postmodernism, he is gradually shaping his artistic programme.
  He establishes contact with the viewer not only through artistic abbreviations or by transforming the reality, but also by exploring and analysing relationships in the life of contemporary man.
  Jozef Švač searches for connections between the objectively known world and the world of his own imaginations, reflections and fantasies. The diverse world of shapes, colours, structures, lines and symbols becomes a source of inspiration, which then takes the form of man's struggle with matter and its transformations. Through his work, he evokes a sense of the world's transformation, and man himself.
  

  DUŠAN ŠTRAUS, the Smena Gallery, BRATISLAVA

  The world, or otherwise the u n i v e r s u m of Jozef Švač, is mysterious, but through its inner world it expresses itself to man. He is concerned with inner harmony and the balance of the world. He situates within himself the contemporary in the foreground and places him at the centre of his reflective paintings, drawings and sculptures. His communication is of a cultivated sensibility that reckons with tolerance and understanding of the perceiver. In the artist, there is a clear departure from verbalism, and what is evident is the inclination towards visual and emotional sensibility, tending to layer the pursuit of pure aesthetic plane and the creation of his own new style and self-expression.

   TIBOR KOČÍK, the Slovak Union of Visual Arts, KOŠICE

  Jozef Švač's artwork is based on energetic strokes of the outlines of the human body. His expressive pastels often show an effort to accentuate the form of the body as an almost anonymous whole. The artist makes rich use of the possibilities of his plasticity and in his expression, he recalls the references of famous artists from the end of the 19th century to the time period before the Second World War...The expressiveness of his artistic expression is often emphasized by variously coloured and vice versa-in some cases, he takes us into the misty worlds of schematic hints and imaginings.

  Mgr. JAN KOTALÍK, the Prácheň Museum, PÍSEK