Zdenek Sopousek

I am originally from Prague in the Czech Republic and has lived In Norway since 1982.

 In 1993 I began work with oil painting. My paintings are moving in the range between the half figurative and non figurative. In the pictures there are half figurative humanoids and animal characters interacting with each other. It is this reality that seduces me and accompanies me in the painting process. They express a different reality based on the organic and the animal life. It is inspiring for me to express such fantasies and emotional processes. This reality is for me a parallel alternative to the physical reality we live in. It is up to the viewer to participate in this reality with his imagination, with their emotions and personal experiences. Although my paintings are not of a purely figurative character they are largely built on the classic grammatical principles like contrapuntal colour (wise) and figure (wise) paint space. The grammar section of the painting, paint space, gives me opportunities to create the dynamics of the images that emphasize my emotional intention as the driving factor in the painting process.

I use either prestretched and primed canvases, or rolls of canvas. When stretching canvases for hand I use 100% pure linen canvas, animal based glue and acrylic paste. I buy pure pigments of high quality which I blend myself along with pure cold-pressed linseed oil. When I begin the actual painting process, I start by covering the entire painting surface with different colour combinations with multiple layers over each other. In this way the actual painting begins to take form.
EXHIBITIONS

1997 – Galleri Kafé vår, Gaustad sykehus, Oslo, Norway, solo exhibition

 1998 – Vøyenvollen gård, Maridalsveien, Oslo, Norway, solo exhibition

2006 – Galleri Cafe Pallet, Hønefoss, Norway, collective exhibition

 2006 – Abel Kunsthandel, Oslo, Norway, paintings for sale

 2006 – Abel Kunsthandel, Oslo, Norway, paintings for sale

 2009 – Gallery Dalype, Oslo, Norway, collective exhibition, spring

2009 – Gallery Dalype, Oslo, Norway, collective exhibition, autumn

2010 - Agricultural college, Ås, Norway, The loss of species, International Year of Biodiversity, collective exhibition, autumm

2010 - Tarell Galleri, Sjøparken Larvik, Norway, solo exhibition, autumn

2010 - Gallery Cuben, Christmas Exhibition,  Oslo, Norway, collective exhibition

2011 – Gallery Dalype, Oslo, Norway, collective exhibition, spring

2011 – Gallery Cuben, Oslo, Norge, collective exhibition, autumn

2011 – CHANGES , among the winners for exhibition in Luxembourg, autumn