Miloš Šejn

* 1947

  • “It happened sometime around sixth or seventh grade. I somewhat got into the biology study room in our room and there I found an incredible thing. I know exactly what it is today – it is called Kněžourek’s Big Atlas of Birds. It is composed of two books which I actually found only much later. But the main part of this art piece are lithographic color printing tables of all European birds, including those species which only rarely fly to our country. I was so fascinated by it that I began creating my own atlas. I made some sort of duplicates of those tables, retaining the original dimensions. I would secretly let myself get locked in that study room during lessons, and draw small sketches of birds which I would then arrange together at home. They were virtually just pencil-written notes and since many birds have a very complicated systems of coloration, those are sketches in which various parts of the birds’ bodies include written descriptions on the specific color tones. At present, I see these as incredible things on the border of visual poetry.”

  • “First, I abolished the traditional idea of capturing landscapes by either using one’s memory or, being out in plein air, having a canvas on the stand and capturing whatever one sees in front of him. My fundamental gesture included abolishing the stand. The canvas lost its frame, it was put down on the ground and the depiction of the landscape became a sort of a map of my relationship to the place. It was about me being present there and somehow seizing the place. Moreover, I progressively realized the importance of me being there, of my body. That relationship between the body and the place. In some of my later works I then worked with the body on purpose and in some other works I worked on purpose with the place. And since at the turn of the 1980s and 1990s I adopted new media, I eventually reached an idea of something total which I call the transparent body.”

  • “Thanks to him I learned about a newspaper advert and a deadline for applications for the job which was about to be the next day. And he told me to do something about it. So I called the number at once. Immediately someone from the student strike committee picked it up and told me: ‘Ok, that’s fine, come tomorrow.’ In the evening I collected my entire portfolio. I was always keeping good track of my works so I had a large portfolio. When I arrived to Prague I walked towards the Academy of Fine Arts which I knew from very different contexts. I was just about to grab the handle from the main door but then it itself started opening. The door opened and Milan Grygar walked out of the building. I knew him because I prepared one of his exhibitions. He told me: ‘Art can’t be taught. I wish you best of luck.’”

  • “Naturally, I knew the artworks of those people. Visually, I couldn’t relate to it much, perhaps with the exception of František Skála and Petr Nikl. Róna’s work with figurativeness was not my cup of tea because it contradicted what I was heading towards. Furthermore, at that time the attempt to make an economic breakthrough smelled of a nod to the regime. I am not joking now at all. In retrospect, some of those people’s characters were confirmed by their later statements. Such as in the memories of Vladimír Körner who likes to tell the story about him being the first who got fired by Václav Marhoul from the Barrandov Film Studios for uselessness. One mustn’t forget that Václav Marhoul was practically the head of the group. So this is not at all funny. And the way some of the members of the group presented themselves – Jiří David above all – it’s… I’d rather not get into detail here.”

  • Celé nahrávky
  • 1

    Praha, 07.04.2015

    (audio)
    délka: 01:57:13
    nahrávka pořízena v rámci projektu Fates of Artists in Communist Czechoslovakia
  • 2

    Praha, 23.04.2015

    (audio)
    délka: 01:17:34
    nahrávka pořízena v rámci projektu Fates of Artists in Communist Czechoslovakia
Celé nahrávky jsou k dispozici pouze pro přihlášené uživatele.

I was lying in bed and saw Václav Havel give a speech in front of my paintings

Miloš Šejn was born on 10 August 1947 in Jablonec nad Nisou but has been living in Jičín ever since he was five. His father worked as bookbinder. An introvert and a loner, Miloš was always interested in the nature and at elementary school he made his own copy of a large bird atlas. He graduated from high school of decorative arts in Turnov, specializing in engraving and polishing of gems. He then worked in this field for three years. Meanwhile, he underwent compulsory military service, marking airplanes‘ locations. As a soldier he witnessed the August 1968 invasion of the Warsaw Pact armies. Later, he was accepted to study art history at the Faculty of Philosophy and Arts in Prague. Among his mentors was painter Zdeněk Sýkora. From 1977 to 1990 he worked in a depository of the Regional Gallery in Hradec Králové. He also devoted an increasing amount of time to his own works, often leaving to draw at Prachovské skály or in various caves. He discovered unconventional forms of artistic expression, gradually making use of other media. He also participated in several exhibitions. At the end of the 1980s he co-founded the artists group Měkkohlaví („the Soft-headed“) which emerged as a parody to the shortly before established grouping Tvrdohlaví („the Pig-headed“). He had spent the November 1989 events in bed with flu but his works were exhibited at the Art Gallery U Řečických which was the initial base of the Civic Forum. In early 1990 he had learned about an audition for the job of head of an atelier at the Academy of Fine Arts. He was hired and for the next twenty-one years lead an atelier specialized in conceptual painting. At present he is retired but also works as a freelance artist. He is married and has three children.