Joska Skalník
(*1948), Czech Republic
Creative activities
Czech artist and printmaker Joska Skalník is primarily known as the co -founder of the Jazz Section. Established in the 1970s, it started as an initiative of young jazz fans, but it later became involved in dissident activities. The Jazz Section published literature that is still available today, including John Ono Lennon and on subjects such as surrealism, dada, minimalist art, the Living Theatre, Music in the Theresienstadt Ghetto, a three-volume rock encyclopaedia and more. In 1982 Bohumil Hrabal asked Jazz Section to publish his book I Served the King of England. As part of the Jazz Section, Skalník initiated his Minisalon project, in which he invited 284 Czech and Slovak artists to prepare an exhibit to fit in a small wooden box. Skalník also worked with samizdat periodicals such as Lidové noviny and Revolver revue. After the Velvet Revolution, he became an advisor to President Václav Havel. In 1990 he created a large national emblem, the small Czech and Slovak national emblems, and the Presidential flag and seal. Since 1991 he has focused on art and exhibited in Europe, Africa, North America and Japan.
