vvp.avu.cz/idatum/search/autori-20

Josef Bolf's paintings have been settled with strange figures, being half and half animals and people, and bringing together cartoon compositions (frame, wording) with omnipresent sadness and vulnerability. These heroes integrate infantile appearance with nostalgia and unexplainable urge for self­‑destruction. While looking at a little pink dog with the eyes as if it came out of girl's diary, and barrel of a gun in its mouth, we can inevitably feel certain disequilibrium, reflecting not just personal obsession of the artist, but being indicative, to a certain extent, of a typical feature of the day. Bolf depicts a world in which melancholy and neurosis, walk hand in hand. His messages are always deeply personal, almost slightly abnormal, no matter if the question is painting, airbrush, drawing, or cartoon. He describes supernatural without being limited with the surrealist form. His so far latest series uses the technology everybody may remember from art­‑and­‑crafts lessons. He scrapes through an ink layer, covering colored layer of wax pastels. This process attended with corresponding associations intensify our anxiety. Being reminiscent of childhood, often idealized territory of projected dreams about easy­‑going life and safety, seems to be heretical in contrast with gloomy and depressive motifs. With Bolf's little animals, reminders of Pif and Čtyřlístek minor characters, the question is not just favorite cartoons, but the virtues identified with childhood, especially innocence. Bolf's paintings introduce destruction, anxiety and death into the world of trust and safety.

1990 – 1998 Academy of Fine Arts in Prague (studio of painting under Jiří Načeradský and studios of printmaking under Vladimír Kokolia and Vladimír Skrepl)

Stipends:
2007 ISCP – International Studio and Curatorial Program, NYC, artist residency stipend
1996 Akademia der Bildende Kunst Stuttgart, Germany
1995 Kongsthogskolan Stockholm, Sweden

2007
What is you could go back in time and change all those hours of pain and darkness into something better, Gallery Ad astra, Kuřím castle
Pink Eyes, Gallery Na bidýlku, Brno

2006
My Empire of Dirt, Galerie Slavie, Nachod
Soft and Pink, hunt kastner artworks, Prague
Josef Bolf, Czech Comics, Antikvariat Fiducia, Ostrava
Death Is Not The End? For Everyone, Moravia Gallery in Brno

2005
Double Feature Picture Show (I’ve Promised Not To Tell Anybody What It Means) with J. Šerých -
Galerie České pojišťovny, Prague

2004
Dogs, Faces, Manatee, Gallery of City Hranice na Moravě
Josef Bolf, Gallery AM 180, Prague

2003
Narapoia, Gallery Ouky Douky, Prague

2002
Un Gatto nel Cervello, Gallery Na bidýlku, Brno
Leticia, Galerie Holec, internet exhibition

1999
Delusa a Bingara, Galerie Die Aktualitat des Schonen, Liberec and Gallery Titanic, Olomouc
Eldorado, BJ window box Gallery, Komunardů street, Prague
I would like to collect pieces of your heart when it once burst apart for someone, Gallery Černý
pavouk, Ostrava

1998
Plastic Boy, Gallery Starter and Sorter, Detail art, Prague
Novos Bichos, Gallery of City České Budějovice, České Budějovice

2007
Czech Painting, Castello di Rivara, Centro d'Arte Contemporanea, curated by Viktor Cech, Turino, IT
STILL: Another Exhibition of Painting, FUTURA, Prague
The Most Curatorial Biennial of the Universe, APEXART, New York, N.Y., USA
LISTE: The Young Art Fair, (with Tomas Vanek), presented by hunt kastner artworks, Basel, CH
Gross Domestic Product, Prague City Gallery at the Municipal Library, curated by Krystof Kintera,
Prague
Skull Hunters / lovci lebek, curated by Edith Jeřabková and Lenka Vítková, Gallery U Bileho
jednorožce, Klatovy CZ, Galerie Sternberk, Sternberk CZ, Vychodoceska galerie, Pardubice CZ,
Kunst- und Gewerbeverein Regensburg DE
VITIMAN PAINTING, Bast'art Contemporary, Bratislava, SK
Spleen and Ideal, curated by Beata Jablonská, galerie Brno, Brno
Sovereign Art Foundation Award, Club Row at Rochelle School, the London base of the A Foundation,
London, UK
Ekonomie smyslů / Economy of Purpose, curated by Galerie Display at Galerie Eskort, Brno

2006
Acne, Contemporary Czech Painting from the Collection of Richard Adam, Rudolfinum Gallery, Prague
Czech Painting 1985-2005, collection of Richard Adam, Wannieck Gallery, Brno
Hot Stuff, (A.M.180+ Full Screen), Stanica Žilina, SK
Fear in the city, Adria, Prague
Blind Men Measure an Elephant (Slepí muži přeměřují slona), curated by Rafani, Gallery C2C, Prague

2005
1811197604122005, Plan B, Cluj, Romania
IV. New Zlin Salon, The House of Arts, Zlín
The 5th Biennial of Young Artists, curated by Karel Císař, Prague Gallery at the House of the Stone
Bell, Prague

2004
Eastern Lights, Neutral, organized by Galerie Display, Motorenhalle Dresden, DE
Private mania, House of the Lords of Kumštát, Brno
Contemporary painting – from collection of Richard Adam, Jihlava City Gallery, Jihlava

2003
Československo, Slovak National Gallery, Bratislava, SK
Compression, Kolonie wedding, Berlin, DE

2002
Encuentros intimos de la tercera specie, Gallery No.D, Prague
Exhibition of Art Group BJ, Gallery Štemberk, Štemberk

2001
Story, Gallery, No.D. Gallery, Prague
Glued Intimacy, curated by Vít Havranek, Gallery Jelení at the Foundation and Center for
Contemporary Arts-Prague
Art Moskva, Dom Chudožnikov, (with the BJ artist group), organized by Umělec art journal, Moscow
Magnetic Fields, Gallery Jelení, Foundation and Center for Contemporary Arts-Prague
Le Jeaux de Francofonie, National Gallery, Ottawa, Canada
The 1st Festival of Comics – Grrr! Žbuch!, Gallery Jelení, Foundation and Center for Contemporary
Arts-Prague
Criss/Cross: Praha - Stuttgart- Wroclaw, exhibition organized by the Foundation and Center of
Contemporary Arts-Prague at the Broumov Brewery, Broumov
Exhibition of Comics, Gallery Burizone, Bratislava, SK

2000
Nests of Games, project of the artist Petr Nikl, Gallery Rudolfinum, Prague
Bezhlavý jezdec, Jeleni Gallery of the Foundation and Center for Contemporary Arts-Prague and
galerie NoD, Prague
The End of the World, Prague National Gallery, Kinský palác, Prague
Klasika 2000, City Gallery of Olomouc
2nd Salon of Young Artists in Zlín, City Gallery of Zlín
Women Come and Go, Only We, Writers of Sci-Fi, Remain, (with the group BJ), Galerie 761, Ostrava

1999
Art for A Hospital, the Collection of the Foundation and Center for Contemporary Arts-Prague, Gallery
Václava Špály, Prague
Unplanned Connections, Mánes, Prague
Perplex, Gallery Václava Špály, Prague
Maxisklad, Mánes, Prague
About Love, Richter Villa, Prague
Visions, Gallery No.D., Prague
Three spots, Gallery No.D., Prague

1998
Metro, Gallery Černý pavouk, Ostrava
Gifts and Purchases, Prague National Gallery at the Veletržní Palace, Prague

1997
S…S… Bunkr, Prague
AVU´97, Mánes, Prague
Artwork in Public Space, organized by the Foundation and Center of Contemporary Arts, (with the
group BJ), Prague National Gallery at the Veletržní Palace, Prague
Fruits from Prague, Czech Centrum, Berlin, DE

National Gallery, Collection of Contemporary Art at the Veletřžní Palace, Prague
Wannieck Gallery, Brno
Foundation for Contemporary Arts - Prague

Lovci Lebek / Skull Hunters, exhibition catalog, (text Lenka Vitkova & Edith Jeřabková), March 2007
Kdo zneužil Fifinku / Who abused Fifi, Respekt culture section, pg. 21, 22-28 May 2006, Zuzana Štefková
Mláďata v obtížích: Přitažliva krása zranitelnosti, A2 kulturní týdenik 27-2007, pg. I, Tomáš Pospiszyl
Josef Bolf, Death Is Not The End? For Everyone, exhibition catalog, Moravian Gallery, Brno, 2006, Yvona Ferencová
Jan Šerých and Josef Bolf, exhibition booklet (text by Jiří Ptáček), Česká pojišťovna, Prague 2005
Chalupecky Award Finalists, exhibition catalog, Prague, 2005
Chtěl bych sbírat..., magazine Divus, Prague 2002
BJ (text by Vít Havránek), magazine Divus, Prague 1999
Lindaurová, Lenka, BJ, nové tváře, Umělec 2/98, pp.16-17
BJ exhibition booklet, Galerie AVU, 1996