Peter Niznansky - The Sculptor
Peter Niznansky´s (born in 1956) education as a sculptor took place in Bratislava (Technical college for creative trade) from 1971 to 1975; later, from 1978 to 1984, he studied in Prague (Academy of fine arts AVU, with professor Jiri Bradacek).
" After graduating from the Academy, he settled down in Prague permanently. Here, his monumental an simultaneously intimate oeuvre of sculptures, reliefs and medals got the chance to grow, emerge and mature in quality. At first, his preferred material was wood, stone and cement. Later and even nowadays, he created masterfully modelled and brilliantly realised sculptures out of bronze and tin.
For years, he owned and ran the upscale gallery “Pyramida” at Národní trída, right across the National Theater. Along with his wife, he made it possible for many Czech and Slovak artists to exhibit their works at the gallery.
After many individual exhibitions, especially in Prague (beginning in 1985) and joint actions in the Czech Republic, Moravia, Slovakia and in his home town of Dunajska Streda (in 1988 in the “Zitnoostrovské-Museum”), as well as exhibitions in foreign cities (Paris, Dijon, Reims, Toulouse, Nimes), Peter Niznanský presented himself –and you could say “at last”- in Bratislava. In May 2014, a selection of his works along with an exhibition of the unique Czech graphic artist Oldrich Kulhánek (1940-2013) was shown at Olga Art Gallery.
Peter Niznansky´s sculptural oeuvre permanently and fundamentally embedded in the topic “the human being”. Since his studies at the AVU (from 1982), he has created sculptures dealing with this subject. Sitting and standing femaled nudes, Baletka (The Ballet Dancer) and Etiópska matka (The Ethiopian Mother), beginning with the first duos and the symbolism of Adam and Eve as an archetypal couple in 1983, but also the latest ones –Harlekýn a Kolombína (“Harlekin and Columbine”), Faust a Margaréta (Faust and Margret)… He has also created sculptures with a humanist and philosophical content –Pomoc priatelovi (“Helping a friend”), Kam krácam (“Where am I going”), a convincing self portrait, as well as the head and tragic context of “The Chilean Nocturno” (Chilské nokturno, 1985), or Pád (“The Fall”, 1989).
You might relate Peter Niznanský´s young oeuvre in parts to the works of his professor, Bradácek. In a greater context, there are connections to the heritage of Auguste Rodin, which influenced all of the Czech sculptural modernity with regard to its certain feeling for the sculptoral shape and size as well as the expressive modeling of the sculptures´ surface.
A finished but also dynamic sculptural block with a smooth surface is represented by the valuable childhood motifs Radost (“Joy”, 1987) and Tonda (1989). A new creative process started in 1990 with the creation of different variants of standing and sitting female nudes. They are plastically magical, arabesque bodies, ornaments, compositions and vivid architectures. Round, melodic, playful silhouttes of the open body of the female.
The female in a sculpture, the female in a woman. The female in a woman´s physical beauty, her proportions and her size, her elegance and her grace. A woman in her aesthetically positive and real exhibitionism, which accompanies every emotional tone: that of tenderness, of poetry, of silence and of the magic of beauty. And also that of the reality of the “absolute woman”. In these works, weight and space are in harmony. These metal sculptures have a soul of their own, though. Maybe it is their inherent space, maybe it is what is flowing through them. Human glances, invisible touches, imaginations, desires…
Stylistically related are also the athletic motifs Golfistka (“Female Golf Player”, 2006) and Lyziar (“ Skier”, 2007). The waving Vltava (“Vltava River”, 2007) and other “horizontal ones”, but also the flowing Vozataj morský(“Charioteer at Sea”, 2009) are all amazing works. The expressively modeled Býci (“Bulls”, 2011) are part of the sculptoral modernity. The magical Kruh rybiciek (“Circle of the Fish”, 2011) is stands out in respect of symbolism, as does the bizarre monster Stír (“Bull”, 2013). Hlava (“Head”) from the year 2008 is unique –Carmen with a vague reminescence to C. Brancusi. From the world of fantasy-mythology as well as our present to the remote future with Hlava Chárona (“Charon´s Head”, 2011), who might well be watched by the older Strázca (“Sentinel”,2001), and Ochránca
(“Guardian”, 2003).
Two of Peter Niznanský´s more recent sculptures are Vesmír I. (“Outer Space I.”, 2011) and II. (2013), made of bronze, with their archetypal infinity, their emptiness and fulness. The almost blessing Fénix (“Phoenix”, 2012) is suggestive in his surreal resurrection and his flight. This is a surprise and a new challenge among the latest ones. Kafka (2013), “on his own in himself”, is unique (even compared to the Czech sculpture of the present) in respect of matter, stylization and composition. In the sculpture, the message, the imagery, the spirit as well as in the philosophy and in the lasting, still disturbing legacy of the great Franz and Josef K.
Women´s and a woman´s beauty as well as the burden of human existence, the secret and the mystery of the flow of mass in the space and time of sculptoral humanity. Adam and Eve´s permanent interaction with the apple, and with the knowledge and temptation of humankind. That and much more is immanent in Peter Niznanský´s magical sculptures. When I am facing them, my eyes are widened with amazement and my fingertips are trembling with impatient touches. The sculptures don´t just magically attract the beholder. In a complex, simple, truthful way, they are… "
PhDr., CSc., Bohumir Bachraty
Art Studies
1971- 1975
Technical college for creative trade in Bratislava
1978 - 1984
Academy of fine arts AVU in Prague