Lot 19 D

Like probably no other representative of Concrete Art, Zdeněk Sýkora managed to breathe individuality and poetry into his paintings, which were created using an innovative computer-assisted and random-based technique.
From 2004 onwards, the artist reduced the presence of lines and their colours to a minimum in many of his works. Like hand-writing exercises seen under a magnifying glass, “Linien Nr. 235” appears to sweep gracefully across the picture surface in various stroke widths forming waves and loops. At a first brief glance they appear black, closer inspection, however, reveals the use of greens and a very dark brown. Despite its size, the work has an intimate character and develops a contemplative effect. Involuntarily, the gaze follows the gentle ups and downs of the individual lines.
“Sýkora’s lines appear […] elegant and light at first sight, their background is an unsullied white surface, seemingly prepared to receive the line without resistance. However, these lines do not reveal the hard, yet intellectual work that is rooted in their differentiated systematics. The calculated course of the lines is in stark contrast to the freedom of its effect,” Rouven Lotz states (in: Zdeněk Sýkora, System und Kraft der Linie, exhib.cat. Emil Schumacher Museum Hagen 2015/16, p.23).
“Linien Nr. 235“ was obviously of particular significance for the artist as the painting hung in his private home in the Czech town of Louny (see illus.).