Exhibitions

If a man knows what he wants, if he has the necessary capabilities and if he is willing to devote to this target a sufficient amount of time and effort, he often reaches remarkable results. A shining example of this assertion can be a professional career of Slovak cartoonist Lubomir Kotrha. He has clearly identified his target already in the early age and with the deployment of all his forces and talent purposefully and systematically directed himself to that point. He has persevered in his efforts to these days and his results are very impressive.
The name of Lubomir Kotrha we really don’t need to introduce to anybody; instead of him are speaking his works and achievements. His name is synonymous with tasteful humor and a guarantee of quality entertainment; in his homeland – Slovakia knows him perhaps every little child, not to mention the adult population. His domain is primarily humor, even though he creates satirical artworks as well. The word “humor” we emphasize in this case once again, because it is in today’s cartoons often a very narrow profile – many of contemporary artists tend to create quasi “philosophical” artworks, but often completely without any sign of humor. Kotrha doesn’t create any esoteric “artworks” dedicated just for a narrow group of pseudo-intelectuals who are confined in their bloated bubbles. He never resorted to a misty or blurring speculations which wouldn’t be understandable even for the proverbial “wild swine”. He still keeps in his mind that the humorous drawing is just a thought-conveying medium, it is just a vehicle, the task of which is to transport a valuable cargo. If it came empty, it would be completely worthless. And this imaginary Kotrha’s truck always comes completely filled with humorous content and is able to deliver it to the addressees without residue. Lubomír Kotrha is able to give to his cartoons a strong punchline, his cartoons never lack a joke. His humor is eminently ingestible and communicative – he is able to express his ideas through visual language absolutely clearly and intelligibly. This is the basis on which stands his popularity and success – humor of Lubomira Kotrha is popular in the best sense of the word. He is always in the place where things happen, where life is flowing; where people live – the people who are so alike one another, and so different at the same time.
It would be an oversimplification to say that Kotrha plays only on a cheerful chord. He does not avoid even complicated topics – his work however does not act on us like a stone around our neck, which would force us to jump into the water and sink to the bottom. On the contrary, with his drawings we feel that the world is not so bad place to live, that all the scary ghosts have been deciphered; we find that they are just mere dummies, straw scarers, of which is not at all necessary to be afraid.
What we appreciate very highly is that his work never goes beyond the boundaries of good taste (what is quite rare today).
From the very beginning of his creative path he created his distinctive easily identifiable manuscript, which he has been gradually perfecting over time. But he retained the graphic purity and crystalline clarity. Inspite of the computerization process he never left the classic “handwritten” technique. Occasionally, he tries possibilities of the computer in coloration of an image, but the basis of his work always remained in a classic pen drawing – so, from his works has never disappeared “the human factor”. To express his ideas he does not need the words, he communicates with the audience using a purely graphic language, which is understandable worldwide. Perhaps for this reason and surely also for his inventiveness and quality of his creative work gained Lubomir Kotrha an extremely great response also abroad – he is incomparably internationally most successful cartoonist from Slovakia. With so many prestigious awards at renowned international cartoon competitions and festivals can boast no other Slovak cartoonist and even abroad are just a few such authors – these extraordinary achievements undoubtedly rank Lubomir Kotrha among the cartoonists of the world extra-class.

Let’s to be acquainted at least briefly with a life and a professional path of the author: Lubomir Kotrha was born on 5 April 1950 in Trencin. Until his fifteen’s he grew up on a football field. For bronchial problems and pneumonia, his promising career of a football player prematurely ended. He graduated from the secondary technical school of construction in 1969. Then he continued his studies at the Technical University but he did not complete his studies of architecture and after the first semester he has definitely started to concentrate himself only on humor – namely on graphic humor, as well as on the written one. In addition, he wrote poems, short stories, scripts and composed songs which in the seventies also received several awards at the music festivals. Since 1967 he works as a freelance cartoonist, illustrator, creator of posters and animated films. Drawings by Lubomir Kotrha appeared in more than 100 different newspapers and magazines in Slovakia and abroad (Czech Republic, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, England, USA, …), since 1967 he has published more than 50,000 cartoons. He presented his work at over 50 individual exhibitions in Slovakia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Yugoslavia, Croatia and France. In 1980 he published his first book of cartoons “Diagnosis XY”. He illustrated more than 20 books, several calendars and created many posters. He is the author of animated series of children’s fairy tales for the Slovak Television: “Dada and Dodo” (1983-1991, 14 parts), other topics for lack of funds have not been implemented. He is a regular participant of the international cartoon competitions (he uses to send his artworks annually to about 50 competitions worldwide). His cartoons have been awarded a large number of prestigious prizes at home and abroad – he has won more than 120 prizes (see below), what ranks him among world’s top cartoonists. He is married since 1973 and has two children (1 + 1) and a grandson. Lubomir Kotrha lives and works in Trencin, Slovakia.

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Individual exhibitions:

• 1969 – Trencin, Kremnica
• 1970 – Bratislava/Smena
• 1972 – Trencin
• 1973 – Istebne
• 1974 – Bratislava
• 1975 – Trencin
• 1977 – Nove Zamky
• 1978 – Bratislava
• 1979 – Trencin
• 1981 – Banska Bystrica, Trnava, Istebne
• 1982 – Gottwaldov/Zlin, Novy Jicin (Czech Republic), Jaslovske Bohunice
  
• 1985 – Nove Mesto nad Vahom
• 1986 – Presov
• 1992 – Trencin
• 1993 – Bekescsaba (Hungary)
  

Collective exhibitions:

• 1974 – Bratislava-GMB
• 1976 – Bratislava
• 1977 – Zilina-Povazska gallery, Banska Bystrica, Ceske Budejovice (Czech Republic)
  
• 1980 – Bratislava-Mala gallery Slovnaft
• 1981 – Zilina, Bratislava
• 1982 – Frenstat pod Radhostem (Czech Republic), Nove Mesto nad Vahom
• 1983 – Nove Mesto nad Váhom
• 1984 – Prague – Malostranska beseda (Czech Republic), Bratislava, Dolny Kubin
• 1985 – Bratislava-exhibition hall MO ZSVU, Bratislava-SFVU gallery, Bratislava-Mirbach palace, Praha-Malostranska beseda (Stadion), Jihlava-Biolab (Czech Republic), Nove Mesto nad Vahom, Jaslovske Bohunice (Rohac)
• 1986 – Gallery Trencin, Prague – Malostranska beseda (Stadion) – also in 1987, 1988, 1989
• 1986 – GMB-Kosice
• 1987 – GMB-Kosice, Nove mesto nad Vahom
• 1988 – GMB-Kosice, Gallery Trencin
• 1989 – Gallery Trencin, GMB-Kosice, Nove Mesto nad Vahom, Kremnica
• 1990 – Gallery Trencin

Awards and mentions:
(year signed * = First Prize or Grand Prize)

• 1977, 1979, 1981, 1985, 1987, 1993 – Ancona (Italy)
• 1982, 1994 – Skopje (Macedonia)
  
• 1983 – Bratislava (Slovakia)
• 1988, 1990, 2005* – Tokio (Japan)
• 1988 – Edinburgh (Great Britain)
• 1988 – Praha (Czech Republic)
• 1988*, 1989 – Aksehir (Turkey)
• 1990*, 1991, 1995 – Cuneo (Italy)
• 1990 – Kazaň (Tatarstan/Russian Federation)
  
• 1991, 2004 – Seoul (South Korea)
• 1992, 1993, 1994, 1996, 1997, 2000 – Okhotsk (Japan)
• 1994, 2009 – Istanbul (Turkey)
• 1995, 1997, 2002, 2003 – Bjelovar (Croatia)
  
• 1996 – Záhreb (Croatia)
• 1996*, 2000, 2002, 2003* – Piestany (Slovakia)
• 1997 – Myiagava vilage (Japan)
  
• 1997, 2001*, 2003, 2009* – Nove Mesto nad Vahom (Slovakia)
• 1997 – Olen (Belgium)
  
• 1998, 2004 – Haifa (Israel)
• 1999 – Bratislava (Slovakia)
• 1999, 2004 – Taipei (Thailand)
• 1999 – Amstelveen (Holand)
  
• 1999, 2005, 2009 – Kragujevac (Serbia)
  
• 2000, 2001, 2003 – Nove Zamky (Slovakia)
• 2001 – Pisek (Czech Republic)
• 2001, 2004, 2006 – Calarasi (Romania)
  
• 2002, 2010 – Hlohovec (Slovakia)
• 2003 – Presov (Slovakia)
• 2003, 2004 – Banska Stiavnica (Slovakia)
  
• 2003 – Tolentino (Italy)
• 2003* – Suceava (Romania)
  
• 2003 – Kyjev (Ukraine)
• 2004, 2013 – Daeva
• 2004 – Belediesi-Istanbul (Turkey)
• 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 – Daejeon (South Korea)
  
• 2005 – Kaliningrad (Russia)
  
• 2005, 2010, 2011 – Brezno (Slovakia)
• 2005 – Petrohrad (Russia)
• 2006 – Varazdin (Croatia)
• 2006 – Peking (China)
• 2008 – Montreal-Quebec (Canada)
• 2008, 2010 – Trento (Italy)
• 2008 – Peking/Red man (China)
• 2008, 2010 – Olen (Belgium)
  
• 2008* – Lubben (Germany)
  
• 2009* – Budapest (Hungary)
• 2009 – Gura
• 2009* – Limeira (Brazil)
  
• 2009 – Bucovina (Romania)
  
• 2009 – Antiqua (Columbia)
• 2009 – Urziceni (Romania)
  
• 2009* – Caratinga (Brazil)
  
• 2010 – Grunwald (Germany)
  
• 2010 – Kiev/Krugov (Ukraine)
• 2010, 2011 – Boston (USA)
• 2011 – Presov/Brain sneezing (Slovakia)
• 2013 – Aachen (Germany)
  

*****

Lubomir Kotrha is truly an extraordinary phenomenon on the Slovak scene and we have great pleasure to present to you a broader set of his artworks. We hope that you will enjoy them and entertain together with us.

(For fullscreen presentation in “Slideshow” mode click under the picture to such button )

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