My Cup of Kafka. Drawings, Prints and Paintings by JiÅ™í Slíva

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The exhibition featuresdrawings, colour lithographs, etchings, pastels and oil paintings on the artist’s favorite themes such as Franz Kafka, Sigmund Freud, the Golem, Jewish customs and symbols, and biblical motifs, as well as other material inspired by the works of Jewish writers. Slíva has illustrated for many years books by Franz Kafka or Ruth Bondy, who deals with the language, names and special idioms of Czech Jews. Slíva’s exhibited work also includes depictions of café society and scenes from everyday life, which are marked by absurd humour and a love of jazz, wine and dancing. His humour is characterized by a desire to have fun, to be among people, and to disseminate ideas from the pure joy of life and its vagaries. His jesting playfulness is a spontaneous feature and a natural expression of humor that is borne of a deep-rooted need to clown around.

Slíva’s drawings have appeared in many newspapers and magazines, such as Die Zeit, Die Welt, Stern, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Los Angeles Times, Playboy, and Le Monde Diplomatique.