Many of Vladimir Gažovič’s prints provide clues for understanding his oeuvre – expressions of imagination used to elucidate our worldly existence. His imagery alerts his viewers that art goes beyond the mere depiction of the everyday world.

From Leonardo da Vinci, via Hieronymus Bosch and Goya, to Salvador Dali and Frank Frazetta, artists throughout history have deviated from the traditional perception of art as an imitation of reality in order to explore the realms of fantasy, a theme which has appeared and evolved throughout numerous phases of art development, including metaphysical painting, cubism, surrealism, magical realism, pop art, and the growing contemporary interest in fantasy art.

Gažovič is a master of the way in which these themes can be explored using the detail and colour of lithography, his subjects including mythical, classical and psychological elements. From Adam and Eve to Shakespeare’s Pyramus and Thisbe, from ‘The Source of Life’ to ‘The Great Carousel’, his remarkable compositions question and deepen his viewers’ experience of the world. Given that the life of the erotic is an essential element of the subliminal fantasy world, it is hardly surprising that many of these images include a more or less explicit reference to the stripped human body and its innate sexuality.