Oskár Čepan

EDUCATION: 1987/1991 Stredná škola umeleckého priemyslu, Košice, SK; 1991/1998 Vysoká škola výtvarných umení, Bratislava, SK; 1993 École Nationale des Beaux-Arts, Dijon, FR; 1994 The Slippery Rock University, Pennsylvania, USA

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS: 1996 – Equal, Galéria Tatrasoft, Bratislava, SK; 1998 – Then, Galéria Soga, Bratislava, SK; 1998 – Melancholy, Múzeum V. Löfflera, Košice, SK; 1999 – Filed Belies, Galéria Priestor, Bratislava, SK; 1999 – 22, Galéria 761, Ostrava, CZ; 2000 – Eyescream, Galéria Kopa, Košice, SK; 2000 – Leveland, Galéria Malá Špálovka, Prague, CZ; 2003 – Mistaken Reconstruction of SchonbrAunnn and others, KulturKontakt Gastateliers, Vien, AT; 2004 – Marko Blažo, Múzeum V. Löfflera, Košice, SK; 2004 – Roofoloquy, Moravská galéria v Brne, Brno, CZ; 2005 – Marko Blažo, Stredoslovenská galéria, Banská Bystrica, SK; 2005 – Marko Blažo, Galéria mestského múzea umenia, Miškolc, HU; 2006 – From Dusk Till Dawn, Space / Galéria Priestor pre súčasné umenie, Bratislava, SK; 2007 – Marko Blažo & Marek Kvetan, Galéria Hilgert, Vien, AT; 2011 – Occurrs, Štátna galéria v Banskej Bystrici, SK; 2012 – Peace and Quiet, Nitrianska galéria, Nitra, SK; 2013 – Peace and Quiet, Východoslovenská galéria Košice, SK; 2014 – Portfolio 1991-2001, Galéria Soga Bratislava, SK; 2017 – Marko Blazo - Horror Vacui; East Slovak Gallery Kosice SK; Marko Blazo White & Weiss Contemporary Art Gallery, Bratislava, SK;

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS: 2020 – Nejasná správa / Preskupenie, Jan Koniarek Gallery, Trnava, SK; 2017 – Od bodu k pamatovej stope, Central Slovakian Gallery, Banská Bystrica, SK; Ars cassoviensis. Osobnosti kosického výtvarného umenia, Vojtech Löffler Museum, Kosice, SK; 2016 – The 40 Anniversary of GJK, Jan Koniarek Gallery, Trnava, SK; Medzi realistickou dogmou a slobodným výrazom; Vojtech Löffler Museum; Kosice; SK;

AWARDS, ARTIST RESIDENCES & FESTIVALS: 2003 – Artist in residence – KulturKontakt Gastateliers, Vien AT; 2005 – Atelier de la Ville de Paris, Cité des Arts, Paris, FR; 2001 – Oskar Čepan Awards (YVAA), SK;

2012 – International Print Triennale Krakow 2012, Miedzynarodowe Triennale Grafiki – Kraków, Krakow, PL; 2009 – 6th Novosibirsk International Biennial of contemporary graphic art, Novosibirsk International Biennial of contemporary graphic art, Novosibirsk, RUS; 2008 – 1st Kulisiewicz International Graphic Arts Triennial in Warsaw, IMPRINT 2008 – Kulisiewicz International Graphic Arts Triennial, Warsaw, PL; IV. Rokycanské bienále grafiky 2008, Rokycanské bienále grafiky, Rakovník, CZ; 2006 – International Print Triennale Krakow 2006, Miedzynarodowe Triennale Grafiki – Kraków, PL;

RESPRESENTATION IN COLLECTIONS: Slovak National Gallery, Bratislava, SK; National Gallery, Praha, CZ; Central Slovakian Gallery Banská Bystrica, SK; East Slovak Gallery, Košice, SK; Nitra Galllery, SK; Wanieck Gallery, Brno, CZ; Múzeum súčasnej grafiky, Krakow, PL; Museum of Modern Art, Taichung, TW; Museum Evora, PRT; Purdue University Gallery, West Lafayette, USA Museum Bohuslava Horáka, Rokycany, CZ; IMOGA Istambul Museum of Graphic Arts, Turecko Aydin Dogan Museum, Istanbul, TUR; Gallery of Silpakorn University, Bangkok, TH; Galeria Gabrovo, BGR;

Statement

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Curatorial statement

Marko Blažo (1972, Košice) studied painting with Professor Rudolf Sikora at the Academy of Fine Arts and Design, graduating in 1998. His oeuvre is characterized by the postmodern methods of the 1990s ‒ appropriation, digitization, references to art history, reversal of meaning, irony, joke. Blažo is a personality that defies categorization, his original visual language and individual mythology are one of a kindin our art scene. He works with several media: drawing, computer graphics, painting, photography, objects. His artworks create witty and unexpected interconnections and layers of visual codes from widely different sources, like a DJ endowed with childlike playfulness. He recombines the motifs into a new autonomous universe, an authentic reflection of what goes on inside the artist's mind. By changing meanings, spaces, and characters he subverts the accepted system of relations and moves the spectators away from their standard perception of the world. He often revisits hisown works and ideas, repeatedly implanting and developing them in new combinations. Motifs of toy trains, chewing gum, coloring books, plastic animals, comic books and jigsaw puzzles hint at a need for return to the artist’s own childhood, while they at the same time serve as a timeless document of the specific place and period they were created in. Blažo also works with famous artworks of the past, such as Hokusai’s prints which he combined with the motif of a split cabbage, a bottle, a postage stamp, or a razor blade. He won the Oskár Čepan Award in 2001, the finalists’ exhibition took place in the Bratislava City Gallery. Other finalists of that year were Erik Binder, Dorota Sadovská and Dušan Zahoranský.