Zdeněk Mézl, born December 31, 1934, studied at High School of Applied Arts in Prague, after graduating he went on studying at the Fine Arts Academy in Prague (1953-56) under professor Vladimír Pukl. The artist also got a schollarship to Bulgarian Academy in Sophia and finished his studies in 1960. During his years at the Academy he already started his first illustrations in the woodcut medium, which would remain his favourite all his life. As a woodcut printer he has illustrated more than seventy books, has created three postage stamp designs and a number of graphic prints, pictures and sculptures. Altogether he has made more than 170,000 sqcm of box-wood and pear tree plates. He has held a number of solo exhibitions in the Czech Republic, Belgium, Italy, Holland, Germany, Japan, South Africa and many other countries, and has participated in collective exhibitions all over the world. Stylistically his work could be compared to the 20th century primitive or naive artists like Frenchman Henri Rousseau, although Mézl´s style is more realistic and refined, despite differences in media. On the other hand it refers back to the ancient folk art from which it originates, putting the artist in the central position between modern and ancient times. Mézl creates and lives in Prague. He is a diligent man with an unsettled inventive spirit, and is also a gifted story-teller who can portray his fellow men both with kindness and with an eye for their faults and ridiculous characteristics. His work is unique, not only when compared to those of the world famous Czech graphic artists. It would be extremely difficult to find an equal one in international graphic art as well.
• Sold