Paintings (2004-2006)

The pictures made by Stratil after finishing the Habadej cycle firstly followed his poetical drawings. Today we speak of several hundreds of canvases of various formats, in which Stratil vigorously strives to destroy the barriers among different picture concepts. Apart from style variability and erasing distinctions of artistic deed qualities (elaborate - wretched, energetic - exhausted, fresh - neurotic, conceptual - spontaneous, topical - anachronic, topical - peripheral, suspended - three-dimensional etc.), we speak of manifold configurations of copying, stealing of images, or artistic collaboration. Signature alternating, fantasizing and interchanges of new alter ego are suitable for Stratilean idea of freedom and "mixed-up" iconography concept. Since this painting period Stratil has introduced the subject matter of a fox. It is recurrently appearing and creates a basis for the mythology of non-aggressive beast and observer, qualities, which Stratil himself identifies with. Text pictures play an unusual role; in these Stratil tries to discover poetic and biased formulae of social, artistic and spiritual questions. The Word series involves phrasal or one-word slogans, in which Stratil puns the Czech diacritics. Stratil's painting activity (as well as its exhibition presentation) has features of performance, physical and mental exercise. It invokes the changes of pace and level of difficulty as the aspects of a painting, which we perceive and judge as concentration or fleetingness and cursoriness.