Julius Reichel

Julius Reichel (1981) is a graduate from Jiří David’s studio at the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design (UMPRUM) in Prague.

He comes from South Bohemia where he originally sprayed graffiti, yet, he claims that this hasn’t had a great influence on his work. At college, he dealt with landscaping and since then he has enjoyed working with the environment. Reactions of his surroundings are still present in the objects he freely installs next to roads, for instance. Having spent a year at Milan Knížák’s studio, Reichel moved to UMPRUM where he graduated from Jiří David’s studio. That might be the reason for his constant questioning of the traditional concept of painting and other classical art forms. In an interview for the Art Magazine the artist claimed:

“I think about visual art as of codes and it doesn’t matter if it is landscape art or abstraction, it simply is a language, an analytical chain of things”
However, Reichel does not only process stimuli from his direct surroundings but also from the internet and digital media. He is undoubtedly both a painter and a post-internet artist who refuses to be put into any simplifying categories. He is known for his monumental paintings in which he layers canvases on top of each other creating object-like works. The spectator going through these „pages“ becomes overwhelmed with an abundance of stimuli, references and symbols almost as when browsing the inexhaustible amounts of information in internet links. In the same way, this browsing may evoke going through commercial samplers or point to endless consumption. The artist systematically examines the principles of readymade and trash aesthetics when using old rags and clothes in his objects or when adding layers of his own expressive painting to old black and white photographs.

It is this conscious analytical work with information combined with expressive creative work stemming both from feelings and reason that is the main identifier of Reichl’s artwork. The author is not afraid of welcoming chance into his creative process. His pseudonym, Julius Reichel, chosen by chance was a name on the door of the flat inherited from his grandfather. It is just another proof of the artist’s complex creativity involving chance that gets reflected in his work.



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