Interview of Martin Dostál to Petr Pastrňák
How do you paint, Petr?
Basically I constantly paint myself through into an internal state of mind, in which the painting goes by itself. But it is tough. It is strange but you get good results not only by painting yourself through but also by means of meditation. These are two ways to perfection and this applies in every activity. Exploring these areas is what I am most interest in with respect to painting, and it might also be the reason why I am attached to it so much.
When do you paint?
Once I start, I must concentrate on work for the whole day from morning to the night. I don‘t have to work all the time but I have to keep my mind constantly focussed. I do my painting in several–week cycles. I start where I have finished. I take it as a way to a climax, to a moment when I manage to paint quickly, spontaneously, joyfully, with little conscious effort, without an external support. This is a beautifully liberating state brought about by painting, into which I am constantly learning to get. But for me it is equally difficult as at the beginning when I started painting. I dream about being totally concentrated on work on a daily basis and, at the same time, do other things, which I devote myself to, at full stretch. I don‘t want to be consumed so much by starting to work. As a matter of fact I discover for myself the basis of Zen painting.
Is this the reason why you go to India? In this case you’d better go to Japan or China, hadn’t you?
I go to India out of my desire for self–knowledge.
How do you paint?
Ideally using all colours. Spontaneously, without any limitation. I put the paints around myself and make a selection, as I would do with the keys on a keyboard. I must have everything prepared; they I might take a nap, for example, trying to imagine what colours could be there and what they would look like. This is one of the ways how I can do something: imagine perfectly the entire situation. I don‘t want to think about anything while I am painting. I consider myself to be more of an abstract painter but in most cases I need a platform on which the painting will take place, and this platform is realistic. However, it may eventually end up with a completely different result; I might finally paint something utterly different but I start from a certain basis. Sometimes, while I am creating and I have already painted something, I use a picture or a photograph or I view a slide, whose rhythm of lines, for example, captivates me and inspires me. This way I achieve a counter effect which I would otherwise not be able to design by myself. I strive to constantly move forward, selecting different ways to avoid repetition after some time.
Do you recognize when you repeat yourself?
Not always. Sometimes it is also difficult to immediately destroy a finished thing, a painted picture. When I am not sure, I ask those around. But it‘s different when I resume work after a long interruption …. I always repeat myself. The reason is to be even able to start as beginnings are very difficult. I repaint what I create this way, I develop it until something happens.
What needs to happen?
Something should appear, something new and unknown. I have to … I need to discover something. I can‘t make it up beforehand. And if I do, it‘s old.
Why do you actually paint?
Maybe in order to be able to live outside the society and not to be asocial at the same time.
Are the themes you select sometimes a little appealing?
Sometimes I select themes which, in a sense, are on edge in terms of appeal. I feel attracted to themes with sentimental traces. They feature a sort of empty nostalgia and memory of a deep experience, which, however, also bears the potential of fun, which is not clearly visible. Sometimes I like balancing on the edge when it is unrecognizable whether it is meant seriously or as fun. I like getting over the edge. But at the same time I always really mean it.
Why do you paint the Forests?
I had been preparing myself for the theme of Forests for a long time. When I was a child, I painted the forests according to Mařák so I wanted try again.
How old were you back then?
I was fifteen. I started by copying the reproductions of Czech landscapists of the 19th century. When I later saw real landscape paintings in the Ostrava gallery, it occurred to me that each painting has a living element. This is what fascinates me about them. Back then I was also surprised by their dimension, their depth. At that time I was interesting in painting only for a limited period, then came poetry and music; I wrote songs and did a lot of other things. When I started painting again, it occurred to me that I would have to try doing the forests again.
What was it like paint them again?
I found out that Forests are a theme in which you can nicely and quickly go from the realistic to the abstract and vice versa. The forest is also a rich mythological theme; we always feel something under its appearance, it is a map of internal way that may be full of mysteries. In India, for example, the forest is a holy place.
What technique do you use for painting?
I use acrylic paints that I apply using anything I have at hand. Recently I have painted a lot using only brushes, and in the past five years I have been using the technique of washing out colours. This way the painting acquires an element of randomness, which entertains me. There is a certain relationship between this technique and the silvery, negative effect common for photographs. Light places are dark and vice versa.
And landscapes?
When I am in the countryside with an open horizon, and now I am thinking of the Dutch landscapist van Goyen, for example, I realize how much I am attracted to the openness of the horizon. As if it invited to dissolution. A painting could work in a similar way so that a man would get lost in it. Be in a state where there is nothing solid to cling onto. I did the landscape according to the Czech landscapists of the 19th century, but also according to Jan van Goyen or Emil Filla…
…who, beside other things, wrote a study on van Goyen. What role does thinking play in painting?
Thinking is a matter of preparation; when I paint, I just want to watch. If I feel deeply relaxed, it is visible on the paintings. They feature movement and peace. Concentration.
How do know you are finishing a painting?
A painter able to recognize when to finish is a good painter. It is constant examination, you must be completely absorbed into the process of painting and, at the same time, keep a certain distance. You must become that activity. Be totally light. Painting might be a strange phenomenon but it is similar to singing and dancing. Even top performing sportsmen experience similar states of mind.
What is special about painting?
Unlike sporting performance, which is an event, again similarly to singing or dancing, painting leaves a record, an artefact which you can put under your arm and carry away. Painting remains, pictures are simply constant.