Lability

The assemblage Lability works as the toy – the tumbler. After it is diverted from its centre of gravity, it returns there again, which is something the visitors of Kristek’s exhibitions enjoy trying. The artwork reflects the uncertainty and unanchored nature of man in a postmodern world. At the same time, Kristek depicts him as a mere toy in the hands of others … a whipping boy. The face of Lability has the form of the mime artist Ladislav Fialka (1931–1991) who Kristek made sketches of in Czechoslovakia during one of his visits to the Prague Viola during Karel Velebný’s (1931–1989) jamming session. On the left side of the face, we can peep under its surface where we find organic shapes. Kristek speaks of the architectonic of the soul. Inside this wooden sculpture, an ingenious labyrinth is hiding, for which the artist had to fabricate special chisels. Everything that is thrown to any of the apertures is finally swallowed by a wooden drawer. Lubo Kristek clothed Lability in his own coat. He is interested in the soul of used objects. For his works, he looks for such objects that have lived something. He deems the history of the individual components, i.e. the frequency of their previous states, to be a part of an artwork. The components do not conform slavishly to the whole but they live their own life.