Jozef Jankovič (SK) -- Limited Space, 2007

The work of Jozef Jankovič, a leading figure of Slovak sculpture, has been indelibly associated with the questions of the freedom of man and society. During the fifty-year development of his work, the deformed figure has undergone profound metamorphosis. Once headless, at other times without trunk, but always deformed, his figures appear in his principal thematic series. These subjects change over time and form the core of his entire oeuvre ranging from sculpture to drawing, painting, graphic art, relief, assemblage, collage, installation, monumental work and jewellery. The figure conveys two primary meanings: it is the symbol of power rising to the imaginary top, to the “place at the top”, of go-getting at the cost of other people or it is the victim entangled in the web of fate. The major themes of Jankovič’s work – Testimony, The Fall, Place at the Top, Prison and the Ladder with a climbing and falling figure eager to seize power – have appeared in his art since the 1980s. His object Limited Space is a variant of this motif. Its composition enclosed in a tangle of three figures suggests the impossibility of escape.