The Grid as Measure
Jankov, 1940. A young Tomas Rajlich begins his training in sculpture at the School of Decorative Arts and the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague. The lines are rigid, the focus structural. By 1966, he is a co-founder of the Klub Konkretistů, a movement mirroring the energy of Nul or Zéro. The work is precise, rooted in the geometric vein.
The atmosphere shifts in 1969. The Soviet occupation forces a departure from Czechoslovakia. Rajlich moves to the Netherlands, leaving behind the familiar structures of his youth for a new, fertile landscape of conceptualism. He settles into a life of teaching as a professor at the Vrije Academie, but the canvas begins to pull him away from the weight of sculpture.
The grid becomes his primary language. It is the starting point, a network of horizontal and vertical lines that dictates the logic of the surface. He lays down these foundations and then covers them with loose brushwork. The tension exists in this very friction: the mathematical certainty of the grid meeting the unpredictable texture of the paint.
Color and Substance
The 1970s bring a transformation in scale and spectrum. In 1975, the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam hosts the exhibition “Fundamental Painting.” Alongside figures like Robert Ryman and Gerhard Richter, Rajlich’s work is recognized as a vital part of analytical painting. The focus remains on the formal properties of the medium—scale, line, form, and material.
The monochrome begins to breathe. He moves beyond the colorless achromes toward a full color dimension. A spectrum emerges: yellow to red, sky blue, pink, gold, and pale blue. These colors are not applied with compositional logic but as a force of light. The paint possesses a sheen and a substance that changes as the viewer moves.
The surfaces are defined by:
- A focus on texture and structure.
- The use of the grid as a foundational measure.
- The interplay between impersonal geometry and gestural brushwork.
- An exploration of the luminosity and weight of materials.
A Legacy in Public Space
His presence is felt far beyond the gallery walls. Large-scale commissions bring his geometric language to institutional settings, such as six large canvases for the conference room of the Raad van State in The Hague. In Ghana, a six-meter high canvas and an engraved glass wall mark the Embassy of the Netherlands.
His career is marked by significant retrospectives that trace this evolution from Prague to the international stage:
- Palazzo Martinengo, Brescia (1993).
- Haags Gemeentemuseum, The Hague (1994 and 2005).
- Kunsthalle, Karlsruhe (1996).
- National Gallery, Prague (2008).
- MuseumKampa, Prague (2017).
- Boijmans Museum, Rotterdam (2018).
Today, Rajlich continues to work between Prague and near Verona, Italy. The paintings remain self-reflective entities, continuously reviewing the act of painting itself through the subtle modulation of color and light.
