Josef Bolf

Josef Bolf (1971) is a graduate of the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague, where he studied under Jiří Načeradský, Vladimír Kokolia, and Vladimír Skrepl. In 1996–2002 he was active in the Bezhlavý jezdec (Headless Horseman) art group, with which he among other things founded an eponymous window gallery. He has participated in a number of foreign exchanges, was a finalist for the Jindřich Chalupecký Award in 2005, and was named Artist of the Year in 2010. A central theme in his work is the return to childhood – a period that, for many of us, is shrouded in the fog of time but that Bolf reopens and confronts with the present. The figures in his paintings, who often combine human and animal features, make an unsettling impression, for they exist in unexpected, sometimes drastic situations. Bolf balances out this oppressive atmosphere through the use of distinctive colors, including his frequent use of pink, which lends his paintings an at first glance softer appearance. One specific characteristic of his painting technique involves scratching through a layer of ink applied on a wax base to create the final scene. Besides painting, he also creates comics and puppet films. Josef Bolf’s work can be found in leading Czech and foreign collections (National Gallery Prague, Prague City Gallery, Robert Runták Collection, Eileen S. Kaminsky Family Foundation, etc.) and regularly appears in solo and group exhibitions in the Czech Republic and abroad.