Vojtěch Kovařík (b. 1993, Czech Republic) is a bold painter with a background in sculpture. His compositions of larger than life characters resemble ancient greek sculptures depicted with brutal naivety. Painted with shallow depth of field, his voluminous figures seem strained against the edges of the composition. builds his identity with the marriage of different painting techniques and various kinds of storytelling; mythology, political propaganda, contemporary imagery and above all a desire to move forward our understanding of what painting can be.
By surveying mythology, the artist subverts notions of masculinity and heroism. Such archetypes are questioned over and over in his paintings, unearthing feelings of doubt in these historical references, yet imbuing them with a fresh grandiosity. These constrained muscular characters, androgynous at times, have become the signature in his practice.
Kovařík holds both a BA and an MFA from Ostrava University (CZ) and has been exhibited internationally in both Europe and the U.S. His works can be found in a number of important private collections. He is the winner of 12th Prize of Art Critique for Young Painting, Galerie Kritiků, Praha (CZ).