Frank Kortan | The Thirsty Herring, 2020

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“Anyone who decides to become an artist, regardless of style, I can advise following these four tips: Find the best teacher, Be persistent, Stay humble, and Believe in luck! “

Frank Kortan, born April 22, 1964, in Prague, Czech Republic, is a painter who works in Surrealism, Fantastic Realism, and Trompe-l’oeil. He won the World Prize of Salvador Dalí for fine arts.  

He currently lives in Egloffstein, Bavaria (Germany).

Frank Kortan started his professional artistic career in Prague, Czechoslovakia as a musician. In 1984, he emigrated very adventurously to Ticino in Switzerland and moved again to Germany after one year. When Kortan arrived in Germany, it turned out that it was not easy to find a permanent job as a professional musician in the music genre of his expertise. Therefore, he looked for new opportunities, and as he had always been passionate about painting from a young age, he decided to become a painter. Oil painting as a supreme discipline has always fascinated him. Still, first, he wanted to study the perfect technique to implement his ideas and themes without technical limitations. 

From then on, Kortan started studying painting techniques very intensively. He met an artist group that worked in the “Trompe-l’oeil” style (“deceive the eye “), which means a representation of an object with such verisimilitude as to deceive the viewer concerning the material reality of the object. However, most painters, whether it was in the Middle Ages or the present, have used this technique only for classical still lives. That was not enough for him; he developed his style further and combined Trompe-l’oeil with Surrealism and Fantastic Realism. Although combining different styles is unusual, it fascinated him as it offered countless expression possibilities. 

On the one hand, Surrealism is an expression of freedom of mind and imagination. On the other side, the meticulously accurate interpretation of painted objects must convince and captivate the viewer. Because the quality of a painting is essential for him, it is not uncommon for him to work on a single painting for almost a full year. Therefore, in reality, the charisma of such a painting is very unique.

Kortan says about his recognition value, “For me, it is important that my style is clearly recognizable after finalizing; everybody must say this is a “Kortan.”

It can not be overlooked that the icon of Fantastic Realism, the Austrian painter Prof. Ernst Fuchs, also significantly influenced Kortan’s art.

Prof. Ernst Fuchs commented on Kortan’s work as follows:

“It’s highly gratifying to see that there still exist artists such as Frank Kortan, who have tasted from the elixir of Emperor Rudolph II and, in the spirit of the noble art of Mannerism, keep presenting its mastery to our contemporaries’ eyes. The mastery that had already seemed extinct is essential to creating magnificent paintings in the style of the old master. May his works open the eyes of all those who have become blind through pointless art so that they are able to understand the language of paintings again.”

Kortan paints exclusively on wood because a wooden surface can be primed perfectly and is most optimal for his purpose. He is using the priming method according to the guidelines of the old masters, as this has been proven effective for hundreds of years. The result is a highly smooth surface without any imperfections, as delicate as a mirror. Furthermore, it allows him to paint the finest details in several layers on top of each other, creating an optical 3D illusion, which is used in the Trompe-l’oeil style.

Kortan has always focused on playing in the so-called 1st league, so his inspirations were only the greatest personalities in literature, music, and art. He has great respect and admiration for big names like Johann Sebastian Bach, Hieronymus Bosch, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Franz Kafka, Count Basie, Frank Zappa, Jacques Poirier, Philippe de Champagne and many others. He implements different themes in his works: reality, imagination, and hiding humor. Historical personalities are portrayed in his unique style, as well as many contemporary personalities, such as the legendary singer Karel Gott or the writer Ephraim Kishon.

Kortan says, “One of these influential people was undoubtedly my friend Ephraim Kishon, a famous Israeli author and one of the best satirists in the world. He belongs clearly to the wisest people I personally have ever known, and I often had the honor of being a guest in his house. I created a painting for Ephraim Kishon called “MATINÈE FOR LISA AND HER FRIENDS “in my specific style. This is how Ephraim Kishon expressed himself in his response to the work:

Ephraim Kishon:

 “In our hazy days, when beauty and art have dutifully disappeared from Beau Art, some artists like Frank Kortan still paint with courage and sacred stubbornness in their own and individual style, but in the spirit and with the skills of the old masters. The picture Frank painted of me in his incomparable mastery is the best I’ve ever seen of myself, including the one I saw in my bathroom mirror. I’ve talked to myself many times, but I’ve never been so silent before. The picture says it all. The painter recognized me. There is no greater compliment. “

Frank Kortan’s works are in public as well as private collections worldwide.

His oil paintings have been seen in numerous solo and group exhibitions around the globe.