Samuel Kollárik↓

About the work

Bad homology

Samuel Kollárik focuses on the phenomenon of a pre-selected cultural meme, a symbol that either loses or changes its initial meaning when used. He constructs relatively narrative situations featuring the “protagonist of the story” – a kind of a comic book hero –, deliberately referring to the reaction skinhead movements S.H.A.R.P. and R.A.S.H. This is done via figurative, partly abstracted work based on the construction of classical painting, with the intention to employ the symbolic apparatus in order to freely point out the evolutionary origin of masculinity and the impossibility of using it in contemporary society. The reference field of Kollárik’s paintings is the subject of skinheads in film (Romper Stomper, Adams Aples, This is England, and others), with emphasis laid on the historical legacy of the original anti-racist movements and with an interest in evolution and hierarchy. The artist’s approach is openly narrative and, on purpose, only partially articulated due to the impossibility to arrive at binary conclusions and distinguish between positive and negative heroes in the real world through visual perception. The real link to anti-racist movements in Kollárik’s paintings is constructed with the help of attributes and symbols referring to the origin of skinhead movements in England. In this case, the physiognomy is the subject of the “protagonist’s” determination, but it at first glance does not always give an answer to its ideological affiliation. The deformation associated with the displacement of the original is intentional and, depending on the image, serves as a communication channel for the atmosphere of the paintings.