Art Basel Paris - Public Program 2025
Vojtěch Kovařík
Avenue Winston Churchill
Vojtěch Kovařík
Atlas calming the troubled world, 2025
Bronze
225 x 350 x 240 cm
In his paintings and sculptures, Czech artist Vojtěch Kovařík reimagines mythological figures through an empathetic lens. His work challenges the legacy of totalitarian aesthetics—particularly the heroic ideals promoted by 20th-century socialist realism and national socialist art, in which strength and authority reigned supreme. In the artist’s hands, once-distant deities become tender and relatable. In this sculpture, Atlas is not crushed beneath the weight of the globe, but gently cradles it in his arms instead. By casting Atlas in bronze—a material historically tied to power—Kovařík offers an image that resonates differently today: strength rooted not in domination, but in compassion for a troubled world.