Mirror Image

The work, which can be viewed from the front (Portrait of Agnolo Doni) and from the back (St. Catherine of Alexandria) is entitled Bilderspiegel (Mirror Image) and is executed in “creasing”, a technique invented by the artist himself that consists of creasing a reproduction so that the folds alter the image while still keeping it recognizable; in this case, two photographs of famous paintings by Raphael. The Czech artist began the “creases” series in 1968, the year of the “Prague Spring” and the Soviet invasion. In this work, the faces of the two figures are creased in such a way that they are invisible. Kolar employs a complex interplay of temporal stratigraphies, between poetry and visual arts, classical art and modernity, and especially the multiple techniques and dynamics of collage.