STANO FILKO

In most texts on Slovak artist Stano Filko (born 1937 in Veľká Hradná) you’ll immediately read in the introduction that his work, due to its complexity and breadth, defies general strategies of interpretation.The uniqueness of his work was quickly recognised in an international context, and towards the end of the 1960s Filko had already taken part in a number of significant international exhibitions. The situation is presently similar – not only with regard to the receding wave of general interest in conceptual art of a former “Eastern Block” country, but particularly with regard to his uniqueness. An interdisciplinary and multi-media approach is typical for Filko. The artist constantly subjects paintings, collages, assemblages, environments, installations, readymades, text art, projektart, prospektart, architecture, “happsocs“ and other original formats to re-archiving and re-contextualisation within his own autonomous system. This system presented in the form of a carefully elaborated structure represents the artist’s specific synthes is of other aspects of the physical and metaphysical. It is an abstracted form of the artist’s understanding of the world and universe. More than merely art, it is “Arzst”, timeless, 5-dimensional, a system of 12 colours, of chakras, energies, 5 quotients…. It is a path to absolute transcendence and infinity.
In the artist’s own words: “For me it’s more about overcoming philosophical-quantitative-relative-intellectual concepts, about understanding an approximation to a metaphysical, meta-philosophical absoluteness of spirituality, of infinity”…quoted from his text and conversation (Stano Filko 1960-1968).
The ideal place to fully get acquainted with the work of Stano Filko was his “studio“ beneath Kamzík hill in Bratislava, planned and conceived as “architecture of information“ (the term architect of information was used by French theoretician Pierre Restany as a title to his contribution to the artist’s catalogue: Stano Filko II 1965/69), a model of the artist’s system, as well as a uniquely aesthetic depository and archive of documentation. A space in which the past meets with the present and future, FILKO with FYLKO, PHYLKO and PHYSO. Filko’s construction of his own identity and its cloning is another important phenomenon in his work. The artist created, under the influenceofexperiencedclinicaldeaths,several “clones” of his own ego (Fylko, Phylko –Phys) which are chronologically linked to the individual phases of his life and work.

From above: STANO FILKO, 1966-67, Photo Universale-Environment, 1964 originaly, farby Shakier, 2 glued black & white photographs, 32,7×19,1 cm; 1966-67 Photo Universal-Environment, 1964 originals, colors shakier, 2 glued black & white photographs 32,7 x 19,1 cm. Photo: archive of the artist.

Vjera Borozan