On 22 February 2024, we presented a new limited edition with Pasta Oner, a prominent personality of the Czech contemporary art scene. The collaboration includes two limited editions of the existing paintings Soup and Incense, inspired by American Pop Art and sacred topics. This is the first time that digital prints have been created from Pasta's works. In addition, there is be a special freedom-themed print in three colour versions which can only be found in our Design Shop.
Pasta Oner about his creative process and inspiration:
What inspired you to create the Now More Than Ever limited edition created for our Design Shop?
The motif is inspired by the ever more current and relevant motif of freedom and care. Unfortunately, this topic is often misused by people who do not live in any kind of freedom and do not understand the basic principles of democracy and the rule of law.
The other two limited editions are the digital versions of the Incense and Soup paintings. Can you describe your creative process from gathering inspiration to the final painting?
The process is quite lengthy. I work with sources of inspiration, mostly American advertising from the 1940s to the 1990s. I like to combine these motifs with scenes from Baroque and Renaissance paintings with sacred topics. I study quite a lot of literature on these topics. Recently, however, I have been gradually leaving this mix and started to focus on a new direction in my work. I would like to present these new works at my planned Prague exhibition in May this year.
Your artistic expression also includes murals. Are you planning another one in Prague?
I closed this stage many years ago. It certainly belongs to my artistic history, but I no longer want to be associated with street art. Moreover, there are several artists who have something to say in this area and there are not many opportunities for them. My generation has come a long way and brought this kind of art into the public space. I have finished my work in this area.
If you could choose any figure from the history or the present, who would be your dream artistic collaboration and why?
I don't have any dream collaboration, but from the art personalities I would definitely like to meet Claes Oldenburg, who unfortunately died quite recently, and from the living ones I would definitely meet Maurizio Cattelan, whom I had been following long before his famous banana stuck on the wall.