Matúš Maťátko exhibition

Matúš Matátko and book illustration belong inseparably to each other. Like salt to the sea, wind to the mountains, oily black earth to the fertile field. Matátko is an element… Rough lines, often the colours of tricolour, expressive shortcut to harsh pointe. His handwriting has inspired linocut, comics and street art. You can feel him admitting that the artist is a graphic designer at heart.

The artistic language is recognizable at a glance. Thanks to it, Mátek’s world is perceived by young children and the oldest adults. A great merit in the direction of the artist had his teachers, in high school it was Miloš Kopták, at the academy it was professor Dušan Kállay. “They showed me the power of line, the secret of mixing and contrasting colours, the magic of drawing, graphics and illustration,” he recalls.

The road to his first book was long. Although he studied illustration, he didn’t get the opportunity until years after college. Publishers were intimidated by his drawings and prints. They seemed scary to them. They weren’t cute little pink-cheeked princesses or cuddly, softly hugging stepmothers. So the first illustrated book became Jaro kriplů (Daniel Rušar, Paskuda books), a gritty story about disabled children on an adventure course where lives are on the line. Mátek’s outwardly raw yet sensitive drawings fitted in naturally, as if they were there to ask questions.

The turning point, however, came with a children’s book for a general audience, Lapin’s Children from the Airport (Viktória Laurent-Škrabalová, Trio Publishing). It was – different, it was a success, it even won a prize in the Most Beautiful Book of Slovakia competition. Since then, several subsequent titles illustrated by Mátko have been nominated in this competition. The book Prešporské legendy revive (Andrej Csino and Lucia Lackovičová, Litera production), which is a tribute to the work of the Slovak writer Maria Ďuríčková, was particularly well received.

The last book is the cult book Animal Farm (George Orwell, SnowMouse publishing). Mátko chose solo colours for it: red and blue. They are more contrasting on white paper. The tricolour is indeed one of the hallmarks of his work, but here he was after something else. “Those colours are on the flags of Slovakia, Russia and the USA, which gives the illustrations today a new context. The story is a parody of the old totalitarianism, Stalinism, but read it now!

The illustrations from these and some other books, such as The Red Virus and Curly Sebastian (Ivana Auxtová, Perfekt) or The Cat Who Wanted to Be a Dragon (Viktória Laurent-Škrabalová, Elist), can be admired right here, at the retrospective exhibition MAŤÁTEK’S BOOK at the Danubiana Museum of Modern Art.

Matúš Mátátko is also a freelance artist and his works are considered as commentaries on contemporary events. The paintings We promised ourselves love, Memento, Viribus Unitis and Dance of death still evoke strong responses. Recent exhibition projects include Time of the Skeletons: the White-Blue-Red Epic, Cuprum Civitas: the Splendour and Misery of the Copper City and Zodiac. Realizations in public space (murals) are also part of the artist’s expression. The most famous mural is in Bratislava on Mariánská Street, the work Angels is 17 metres high. His last large-scale mural, Hand of Peace, was created together with Filip Sabol at Mahane Jehuda Market, the largest marketplace in Jerusalem. Apart from Slovakia and the Czech Republic, he has exhibited in Israel, the United Kingdom, Belgium, Bulgaria, France, Japan, China and Indonesia.

Jakub Prokeš

Biography

Matúš Matátko (b. 1984) is one of the most prominent Slovak illustrators and artists of the middle generation. His artistic range is extremely broad, from graphic art and illustration, through free work, painting to object and sculpture, as well as large-scale installations in public space (murals). He is also involved in design, poster making, advertising and building corporate identity through graphics and other visual elements. He is also a lecturer of the painting – graphic arts programme at the Faculty of Fine Arts of the Academy of Fine Arts in Banská Bystrica.

He graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Bratislava, graduated from the studio of free graphic arts and illustration under the guidance of prof. Dušan Kállay. He has participated in artistic internships and stays in Bulgaria (Sofia), France (Paris), Belgium (Antwerp) and Indonesia (Bali). He lives and works mainly in Bratislava.

Illustrations, books and stories

curated by Jakub Prokeš, PhD

The exhibition is held in cooperation with the Piešt’any Municipal Library.

Location: Danubiana, Čunovo, Slovakia
Date: from 11.02.2025 – 15.06.2025

Opening hours:

Monday – closed
Tuesday – Sunday from 10:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.

Admission:

Adults – 12 €
Family (2 adults and 2 children/students) – 25 €
Pensioners (over 62) – 6 €
Students – 6 €
Children (under 6) – Free
Members of the Danubiana Club – Free

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