Exhibitions | CARTOON GALLERY

LUBOMIR KOTRHA – 2nd PART

REPRESENTATIVE EXHIBITION OF POPULAR CARTOONIST

FROM SLOVAKIA

Last month we presented to you a highly successful creative work of popular Slovak cartoonist Lubomir Kotrha covering a diverse range of topics from everyday life of today’s man. Now we bring you the second part of the exhibition, which is focused exclusively to the theme of sports and games.

If we wanted to trace the origin of sports and games, we would have to go very far into the past, somewhere very deeply into the prehistoric times. Man has always been exposed to various dangers and pitfalls from the side of natural forces, wild animals, or hostile members of his own species. To face numerous dangers required a proper preparation, skill and fitness – and these could be achieved only through a long-term and regular exercise, training. Readiness for the “sharp” use of the acquired skills was subsequently necessary to verify in the “trial” competitive duels with certain rules. In addition to the mentioned benefits, the victories in these duels brought to the best competitors the prestigious status within a community, and not least they provided extraordinary enjoyment to the audience. Approximately this way were born the first sports competitions. As it is well known, the Antiquity brought this endeavor to the top level, institutionalized by regular games in ancient Olympia.

Today it is indeed unlikely that we could be attacked on the street by wild animals or enemies – but in accordance with the ancient Greek ideal of kalokagathia is still useful to be both physically and mentally “ready for life”. As for the indescribable joy and tension that brings us just the mere watching sports performances of other people, either directly on the stadium or only from a comfortable chair in our living room, it is perhaps not necessary to talk about.

Lubomir Kotrha lived with sports from his early childhood, he grew up – as he says – right on the football field. All the joys and sorrows of sporting life he tasted on his own skin. He knows how strong will and self-denial requires the achievement of a good result, he knows how much hurt the injures, he knows the taste of defeats; but he remembers very well the heady joy of winning and the sweet rest after a heroic performance. It seemed that a bright future of a football hero is awaiting him, what probably every boy is dreaming about. But Fate and the inflammatory processes of his respiratory apparatus decided otherwise: the football boots in which he played hundreds of games, he definitively had to hung up. But the love for sports has already indelibly etched into his heart forever. The theme of sports and games is still essential in his creative work – his rich personal experience and imagination make him ready to an extraordinary “performance” in this field. He exchanged the sports arena for the artistic one, instead of sports equipment he used his artistic “weapons” in many international cartoon competitions and festivals – and he regularly takes away the deserved laurels. Who knows – maybe Lubomir Kotrha would become a world-class football player. But today it is certain that he became a respected cartoonist of international format. We are happy together with him.

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Let us repeat once again the main points of professional career of Lubomir Kotrha: He was born on 5th April 1950 in Trencin, Slovakia. Until his fifteen he devoted himself intensively to football. But for recurrent bronchial problems and pneumonia, his promising career of a football player prematurely ended. He graduated from the secondary technical school of construction in 1969. Then he continued his studies at the Technical University but he did not complete his studies of architecture and after the first semester he has definitely started to concentrate himself only on humor – namely on graphic humor, as well as on the written one. In addition, he wrote poems, short stories, scripts and composed songs which in the seventies also received several awards at the music festivals. Since 1967 he works as a freelance cartoonist, illustrator, creator of posters and animated films. Drawings by Lubomir Kotrha appeared in more than 100 different newspapers and magazines in Slovakia and abroad (Czech Republic, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, England, USA, …), since 1967 he has published more than 50,000 cartoons. He presented his work at over 50 individual exhibitions in Slovakia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Yugoslavia, Croatia and France. In 1980 he published his first book of cartoons “Diagnosis XY”. He illustrated more than 20 books, several calendars and created many posters. He is the author of animated series of children’s fairy tales for the Slovak Television: “Dada and Dodo” (1983-1991, 14 parts), other topics for lack of funds have not been implemented. He is a regular participant of the international cartoon competitions (he uses to send his artworks annually to about 50 competitions worldwide). His cartoons have been awarded a large number of prestigious prizes at home and abroad – he has won more than 120 prizes (list of awards we brought within the first part of the exhibition of Lubomir Kotrha last month – please see HERE). The amount of his international success undoubtedly qualifies him among the world’s leading cartoonists. He is married since 1973 and has two children (1 + 1) and a grandson. Lubomir Kotrha is living and working in Trencin, Slovakia.

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It is a great honor and pleasure for us to present to you the exhibition which is focused exclusively to the topic of “Sports and Games” performed by the right specialist – a former outstanding sportsman and today’s leading European cartoonist Lubomir Kotrha. We believe that it will bring you a nice refreshment in the coming summer days.

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