Published on the occasion of the exhibition of the same name at the New Hall in Prague, the book HIDDEN LAYER is a self-contained monograph reflecting the work of the leading Czech painter of the middle generation, Jan Poupěte (1988). It highlights his work from the years 2022-2024 and explores an excursion into the genealogy of the painterly problem related to expressive experiments at the interface of pictorial and architectural construction and painting direction. The title of the book refers to the basic principles of Jan Poupěte's work, which takes place “in layers” and explores the issue of the space between the viewer and the image.
The book is divided into several parts. The first one deals with the current work of the artist related to the exhibition of the same name. The second part contains a study by art historian and curator Petr Vaňous (1975), who deals with the sensory and perceptual object in the context of the development of the artist's work, in which the traditional pictorial composition transforms into an illusory structure opening up new pictorial themes. This is followed by reproductions presenting a retrospective excursion into the artist's work (2022-2011), then sections on Works on Paper, Vector Drawings and the book concludes with a clear index of reproductions. The publication offers the reader a unique insight into the various stages of the constitutive process of contemporary painting. The book has been graphically and typographically edited by Jan Novák.
Product photo © Filip Beránek