ABOUT JOZEFINA

Jozefína Garai

was born on 30. 3. 1948 in Bratislava. She died 2. 5. 2021 in Prague.

Studies

SŠUP Bratislava (Colledge of Industrial Art, Bratislava)
AVU Praha (Academy of Fine Arts, Prague), in years 1972-78 with proffessors I. Fišárek and K. Souček, specialization in monumental painting. Achieved the Price of AVU in 1978.

Work

Already from her early beginnings, Jozefina Garai targets her creation on figural themes. Straight after her studies she dedicated her first periods to the world of theatre, dance and circus. Gradually leaves this scene and devotes herself to free compositions on the verge of dream and reality.

Jozefina creates in Prague where she is inspired by numerous situations, emotions and she captures the everyday fight of a humanbeing with life. Consequently she transforms all into dream compositions on coloured primarily coated canvases. She paints also portraits of people and animals. Basically she paints life from all its aspects. She is related to esoterism, tells fortune from cards and she captures the existence of angels in her paintings.

The expressive demonstration of her painting sets her figures in most of the times strained gestures and the observator becomes a witness of unexpected situations... Her studio, which was situated in the basement of one of the Karlin’s streets in Prague, was completely destroyed by flood in August 2002. She lost all her possession, but as she adds herself: „Those were only things and the person later perceives it more like some kind of a purification“.

Her first independent exhibitions took place mainly in the lobbies of Pragues’ theatres. After year 1989 she shows her paintings in many galleries of Prague and other towns.

Jozefina, for her personal extravagancy, became an occassional object  for film (Handful of Magpie, producer J. Hertz, 1982) and photography – Jan Reich (1968), Jan Všetečka (1975) and pantomime with Boris Hybner v  Rokoko theatre (1972). All this happened after Jozefina stood for a model in her beloved art scene of AVU and UMPRUM (Art University) in Prague (1967-1972).

She created the film poster for film Special Creatures of producer Fero Fenič (1989) and designs of costumes for a ballet in the Chamber Theatre in  Plzeň. She was in the first group of painters and creative artists, so called Cultural Mission in Brazilian Lidice (1998), where they have been creating for few weeks. She creatively cooperated on projects for the Theatre of Poetry Viola in Prague and Theatre U Panáků. She realized numerous glass mosaics for Japan (2003).

Theorist of Art, Dr. František Malina mentioned about Jozefina:
„The decisive forming of artistic profile of J. Garai is connected with her studies at AVU, at studios of national artist prof. Souček. Here she can safely and totally handle  the painting technique. Already in this perioid Jozefina Garai chooses the theme of seemingly closed monothematic world of theatre, on scene of which human desires are being exposed constantly. In other words: the monumentality, theatrical staging and the composition harmony, hence overall picture composition on one side, and on the other side it is interrupted by a fragmental element – a figure or its movement – that is avoiding the upfront determined composition line. The global tone and temperamental meaning of the painting is then empowered by the selected base colour. Mostly it is cold – blue or gray – it gives more tragicelness to the painting and the using of a deeper aesthenic tonal value in detail underlines this tragicelness.
The artist’s delicacy in treating the aesthenic tonal value of the base colour, the precise and pointed out drawing, perfect handling of the technique and the surface of the painting, it all reflects her abilities and efforts to newly enrich the seemingly fulfilled classical value of painting.“

Jozefina Garai is represented by Gallery U zlatého kohouta in Prague 1, Michalská Str. 3.

The work of Jozefina Garai is presented at many galleries and private collections in Germany, Austria, Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland, Slovakia, USA, Brazil, Japan, Australia, Italy, Egypt etc.

"I have known Jozefina for many years and own several of her canvases, I have a very personal relationship with. In 1989 Jozefina Garai painted the poster for my film Strange Beings."
Fero Fenič
Director, producer

"For Jozefina Garai, dream is more important than a simple visual sensation. She literally paints the spiritual visions by coloured wings on a coloured primarily coated canvas, with her special technique, whereas she uses impressive shortcuts, mere suggestions, which the observer must process in his own imagination all by himself."
Bohumír Mráz
Theorist of Art