Interview: Pavel Büchler

PAVEL Bchler has described the ethos behind his work as "making nothing happen".

To those who believe that most modern art is nothing more than money for old rope, this is a bit like waving a red rag at a bull.

But Bchler, who last week won the 16,500 Northern Art Prize, believes we shouldn't be so dogmatic in what does, and doesn't, constitute art.

"The job of the artist is to notice things that already exist in the world, that already have an identity and to show different ways of looking at these objects," he says.

"The artist should not try and predict the response because that would limit the creative process. But ultimately the viewer has to bring their own imagination to it."

The Czech-born artist is not a big fan of competitions when it comes to art – history, he says, should be the judge, not a panel of experts.

Nevertheless he's pleased to have won this year's prize and be given the opportunity to display his work at Leeds City Art Gallery.

Bchler, 58, has been an influential figure in British art for a number of years since moving from Prague to establish a base in Manchester.

His prize-winning works include Eclipse which draws its inspiration as much from science as it does from art, using nine projectors from the 1950s to cast interlocking shadows on to a wall from a number of round objects.

Conceptual art like this is sometimes criticised for lacking the creative skill associated with great paintings or sculptures. But in Bchler's case it stems from his own experience as a young artist living in the old Eastern Bloc.

"By the late '70s we had become interested in conceptual art and creating social situations rather than conventional paintings and sculptures," he explains.

"You only had state-approved art and commercial galleries and studios simply didn't exist, which meant there was nowhere for artists to exhibit their work even if they produced something tangible. So the idea mattered rather than the object, and this created a new sense of possibility."

By embracing conceptual art Bchler and his fellow artists were, in a way, reacting against what they regarded as the oppressive and tedious bureaucracy of the communist state.

"I think there were few people of my generation who didn't consider ways of getting out, because there was no critical culture which left you out on a limb as an artist,"

he says.

"But we felt we had to do something even if we didn't know what, because to do nothing would have been like giving up, and that was no answer."

Bchler did eventually leave although he has mixed emotions about the post-Cold War world.

"It was basically the victory of liberal capitalism over communism, although I think 1989 will be viewed as one of those lost opportunities.

"Mikhail Gorbachev was the main architect of the controlled demolition of the communist experiment and he quite pragmatically threw in the towel against the huge power of global capitalism.

"Had there been more of a compromise, then perhaps things would be different. But it was a competition and as with all competitions, and

I'm not talking about art, somebody has to be the winner."

As well as being an acclaimed artist, Bchler is also a lecturer and writer and he cites Franz Kafka and James Joyce as two notable influences on his work.

"Literature and philosophy and sometimes even music influence my work more than traditional art," he explains.

The boundaries of art have changed dramatically even during the past 40 years, but does he believe it has really improved?

"Why don't you ask the same question to politicians and bankers?" comes the retort.

"I suppose generally speaking art is no longer a place where skills are finely honed and passed down through the generations in the way they were, but all that says is the social relevance of art has changed.

"We live in a different society so we cannot expect the same kind of art," he says.

"Students often ask me, 'how do you know if something is a great work of art?' And I say if I go to an exhibition and see something and when I walk outside afterwards the world seems different for having seen it, then it's probably a great work of art."

And he is in no doubt as to the continuing relevance of art.

"If you look at the huge queues not only at the Tate Modern but also at art fairs, then it seems even more important.

"The importance of art to culture has not declined. It makes us aware of our levels of tolerance and gives us a feeling we are actually doing okay."

The Northern Art Prize exhibition runs at Leeds Art Gallery until February 21.

Portrait of an Artist

Pavel Bchler was born in Prague, in 1952.

He studied at the School of Graphic Arts in Prague, between 1970-72.

His work has been exhibited all over the world including London, Berlin, Athens and Shanghai.

He is a research professor at Manchester Metropolitan University.

In 2010, he won the third annual Northern Art Prize with the judges describing his work as "consistently influential".