Radek Pilař
Radek Pilař (23 April 1931, Písek, Czechoslovakia - 7 February 1993, Prague, Czech Republic) was a Czech painter, graphic artist, illustrator, video artist, filmmaker and director. In addition to pioneering Czech video art alongside Petr Skala, Pilař earned recognition above all as the creator of several animated television series for children and a children’s book illustrator.
Radek Pilař graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague (1950-1956, Prof. Vlastimil Rada). From 1963 he created film experiments influenced by pop art. In 1983 he acquired a video camera and VCR, and started producing first video experiments. In 1985 he founded the Animation Department at Prague's Film Academy (FAMU) in collaboration with B Pojar, J Jaroš and J Kubíček. In 1987 he initiated the Video Section of the Union of Czechoslovak Artists, later called the Association of Video and Inter-Media Art, that he directed until his death. From 1988 he organised several video art exhibitions, such as Den videa (1989).
Works (selection)
- Flare Up, 1991, 4 min. [1]
- Yes No Yes, 1992, 10 min.
Catalogues
- Radek Pilař: Video, Vsetín: Okresní vlastivědné muzeum, 1988, [20] pp. [2]
- Radek Pilař: obrazy, ilustrace, animovaný film, video, Prague: Slovart, 2003, 194 pp. [3]
Documentary film
- Viva video, video viva, dir. Adéla Komrzý, 2019, 85 min. Trailer. Film on Czech TV (available from Czechia). Interview with director. CSFD. [4]
Literature
- Bohdana Kerbachová, "Počátky českého videoartu", Iluminace 18:2, Prague: Národní filmový archiv, 2006. [5] (Czech)
- Veronika Ševčíková, "Radek Pilař", in České videoumění do roku 2000, Brno: Masarykova univerzita, 2014, pp 20-24. Master's thesis. (Czech)
- Kristýna Suchánková, "Radek Pilař", in Suchánková, Definování jednotlivých proudů, komunit, skupin a manifestů v rámci videoartu vobdobí let 1970-1990 v Čechách, Brno: Masarykova univerzita, 2017, pp 29-33. Bachelor thesis. (Czech)
- Martin Blažíček, "Radek Pilař – dvojí český videoart", Sešit 33, Prague: VVP AVU, 2022. [6] (Czech)
See also
Links
- Video art retrospective, Restart Gallery, Prague, 2013. Video report. Review: Blažíček (Cinepur).
- https://www.nga.gov/features/experimental-cinema-in-eastern-europe/medium-experiments/painted-in-the-air-checkmate.html
- Profile on abArt, incl. biography
- Wikipedia-CS