The Brno artist Jan Zuziak has died, he was 75 years old

Brno - The Brno artist Jan Zuziak has passed away; he was 75 years old. He was one of the prominent figures in the Brno art scene, although he stood outside of official structures. The Moravian Gallery informed about Zuziak's death.

A native of Pozořice in the Brno region, his early artistic creation was influenced by the works of Mikuláš Medek, surrealism, and also by Vladimir Boudník's work. He began to focus on experimental graphics and developed the technique of decalcomania. In the 1970s, he came closer to conceptual art. He created graphic scores, drawings, participated in collective projects, and also came up with the concept of the imaginary land of Zuziland.

"At first, it's a purely fictitious concept that he develops with his friends over a beer. They invent laws, ministries, and ways of functioning for a free country as a reaction to the ongoing normalization period. At the end of the 1970s, he proposes original stamps for Zuziland, a stamp for issuing visas, and also the flag of Zuziland," wrote curator Jana Písaříková on Facebook.

The Moravian Gallery revisited Zuziland in 2019, with the Palace of Prague becoming part of the imaginary country featuring a modern art exhibition. "It is an imaginary territory, my inner world, to which I emigrated in 1976. I did not want to emigrate to the West or to the East; I emigrated into myself," Zuziak reminisced two years ago.

The artist created his own stamps and even had printing plates made. He gave the stamps to foreigners coming to Brno, as well as to Czechoslovaks who had the opportunity to travel from the totalitarian state abroad. They would then return to him on envelopes or postcards that the post delivered, even though Zuziland never existed.

During the normalization period, Zuziak tried to live independently of the regime. "We did what we wanted; of course, something was at stake for that, but the main thing was to be free," said Zuziak. Letters from abroad somewhat replaced the travel that was impossible for Zuziak because he did not have a passport. "Where there was a stamp, there I was," he said then. He was also a lover of nature and a collector of natural curiosities.