Lithograph, 19x28 cm. Signed bottom right Jiří Slíva
About the author:
Jiří Slíva (*1947) is a Czech artist, focusing on cartoon humor, book illustration, lithography, and other graphic techniques. In addition, he writes aphorisms, poems for adults and children, composes songs, and is the author of many postage stamps.
In 1966, he left his native Plzeň for Prague to study at the University of Economics. After completing his studies in 1971, he remained in Prague and started working as a specialist at the Institute of Philosophy and Sociology of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences.
In 1979, he started earning his living solely from drawing. He began writing his first song lyrics during his high school studies, and his first drawings were published by Mladá fronta in 1972. Since then, he has had numerous solo exhibitions both in the Czech Republic and abroad. He has published many solo books and illustrated over two dozen others. He also wrote poems for the children's magazine Mateřídouška.
Since 1993, he has been a member of the Hollar Association of Czech Graphic Artists. He was a member of the Czech Union of Cartoonists (ČUK). He was involved in pedagogical activities – in 1990, he led the Poetry & Cartoon seminar at Oberlin College in Ohio, USA.
In Salzburg, Germany, he taught a drawing and illustration class at the International Summer Academy of Fine Arts (Internationale Sommerakademie für Bildende Kunst Salzburg) from 1990 to 1993, and served as an assistant to, for example, Professor Jiří Šalamoun. Slíva's cartoon humor is usually based on paradox – placing otherwise serious and ordinary subjects into unexpected contrasts. Among his favorite themes, which he depicts in his works, are coffee, wine, jazz, love, and Franz Kafka.
