Jan Edlman, the artist

Jan is influenced by the history and culture of his hometown and family background. He began to artistically express himself as a preschooler, primarily in music at that time. The century-old piano placed in his childhood room developed his sense for harmony and melody and likely kick-started his talents for art.
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He attended the 3rd Primary School in Litomyšl, followed by the Alois Jirásek Gymnasium there. After completing his studies in Litomyšl, he left for Prague to study law at the Faculty of Law at Charles University. After finishing school, he began to work in marketing, which he considers an overlap of art into business, and the projects he participated in were always marked by high quality audiovisual character. He was fortunate with clients and colleagues and collected many awards for his career there.

However, his creative soul always wanted more. As a student, he programmed, attracted by the path of simplifying complex processes to the bare minimum, which led him to the innovative environment of ŠKODA AUTO DigiLab, where he is responsible for smart city projects and the development of sustainable mobility, including electromobility and its advent. His entire home is based on the concept of a smart household with many automation processes that he devises and programs himself.

But he was always drawn to the art itself—in his free time since 2014, he studied drawing and sculpture, during which several distinctive works were created. Since 2022, he has been engaged in oil painting, where he has redoubled his efforts after the unexpected death of his beloved father, who had a fundamental influence on the development of his soul and understanding of the meaning of life and the universe. A large part of his work is therefore dedicated to his close relationship with his father.

Jan studied in several studios, initially sculpture under the guidance of Magdalena Bohuslava Poplawska. From this period, several figurative sculptures were created. He subsequently studied oil painting under the guidance of several AVU lecturers. After this experience, he began to devote himself fully to oil painting.

The main driver for his creations is the struggle between Harmony and Chaos, the search for balance for both states. The fascination with cosmic processes, which are the culmination of this struggle, is reflected in his works. Elements of spirituality, culture, social peace, politics, as a sign of reason and humanity, he incorporates into his paintings and sculptures alongside religious, natural, and cosmic motifs—thus they speak to the viewer and shake his moral and ethical dogmas, ideas about a just and harmonious arrangement of the Chaos of the Universe. The presentation of several worlds, their mutual influence, and the key to finding harmony—all this is presented to the viewer on a wide palette of individual canvases.

His earliest works contain various styles, from abstraction, through figurative and geometric motifs (especially straight lines, circles, and polygons). From the middle of 2023, he created his own distinctive style "Geometric Deconstructivism" - based on strictly geometric shapes, especially parts of a circle, which are then used in the depiction of figurative motifs (for example, the oil paintings Sitting Girl, Ginger Dancer, Girl with an Apple). These paintings are particularly valued for their originality and new thought stream in visual art, inspired by cubism. The author himself calls this style geometric figurative deconstructivism. In addition to this style, he also engages in abstractions, mostly on smaller canvas formats.

He works primarily with oil on canvas, and serigraphs of these motifs are also available.

In his work, he also uses innovative techniques, especially graphic programs and artificial intelligence—however, the final work is always fully authorial. He thus continues mainly in the legacy of Zdeněk Sýkora, whom he always admired.

Jan's art has already found its way into the exclusive private galleries on both sides of the Atlantic, mainly in Central & Western Europe and USA.