Vladimír Boudník – Explosionalism in the Heat of Blast Furnaces

**Expert lecture with Eva Čapková, author of the book *Vladimír Boudník, Mirror of Inner Life***

The Gallery of Kladno Castle launches a new series of expert lectures on visual artists connected to Kladno – painters, sculptors, and graphic artists who created here, lived here, or drew inspiration from the local landscape and industrial environment. Each lecture will present a different perspective on the city's artistic heritage, from well-known names to overlooked creators.

Vladimír Boudník (17 March 1924, Prague – 5 December 1968, Prague) was a Czech graphic artist and painter, creator of original techniques in active and structural graphics, and founder of his own artistic movement – explosionalism. He is considered one of the pioneers of Czech abstract art.

His work is closely tied to Kladno: his working period in the industrial environment of the Poldi steel mill was a key formative moment. The materials and processes of the local factory – sheet metal, slag, oxidation, imprints – became the foundation of his techniques, and it was here that he tested his explosionalist theories and his way of perceiving reality.