Artist’s Statement
It is a question of possibilities
The Light of Transformation – Letná park series 2026
My work embodies extrapolations of self as an outsider and the need to transform the literal, figurative world around me into something beyond the banality of a tormented existence. Form out of context isolates, individuates, and evokes a world of new intellectual and aesthetic possibilities. The juxtaposition of colour in landscape steps beyond the chains of a bleak and mundane life, unlocking a vast array of emotions existing beyond the immediacy of one’s circumstances, leading the viewer into a new and more vibrant world of meaning and beauty.
I paint in series because life is a flow. You can add the rest.
Questions of meaning, context, possible narrative, sign, symbol, time and history resonate in the relationship between multiples of passing and becoming. Instinctively there is a need for clarity, familiarity and certainty. Yet the closer I come, the more I discover opacity, enigma and elusiveness. Inside the paradox, there is beauty, juxtapositions of the paradox, a tilt this way or that in passing, reveal fragments of the aesthetic. The contradictions are wonderful, there is no center, the center can not hold.
Affirmation is abundant. One needs merely look.
Artist’s Bio
Based in Prague, Czech Republic, Kip Bauersfeld (b. 1967, Washington D.C.) is a fine art painter working primarily in oil on canvas and paper. Spanning over four decades since his early studio work in California, Bauersfeld’s practice is characterized by a vibrant, complex, and deeply idiosyncratic juxtaposition of space and the human form. His work explores profound concepts of dislocation, alienation, and the constant psychological struggle to capture transient beauty within an over-mediated global landscape.
Bauersfeld’s distinct visual style bridges contemporary figuration with historical movements like Stuckism and Situationism. His painterly dialogue is deeply informed by European artistic traditions and literary countercultures. In 1991, shortly after relocating to Europe, he co-founded Twisted Spoon Press in Prague—a premier English-language literary press dedicated to publishing translated works from Central and Eastern Europe. This intersection of literature, avant-garde poetics, and visual isolation serves as a primary driver behind his expressive, surreal figurative paintings.
Drawing aesthetic inspiration from masters of human form and texture—including Lucian Freud, Gerhard Richter, and Neo Rauch—the work confronts the continuous friction between classical artistic traditions and contemporary alienation. Influenced by the defiant ethos of the Czech Underground and poets like Ivan Martin Jirous (“Magor”) and Pavel Zajíček, the paintings reject commercial complacency. Instead, they focus on raw, emotive figures that navigate the boundaries of physical space and internal psychological states.
Commercial commissions and group show invitations accepted – contact kip.bauersfeld@gmail.com
Solo Exhibitions
2026
Prague, Czech Republic, 16 July – 29 August “The Light of Transformation”, Cafe Ubuntu pod Lipami, Prague 7
2025
Prague, Czech Republic, 29 May – 27 June “Once Upon a Time – Prague Sprig 2025 – Hope and Hopelessness”, Salon – Koncept Letna, Prague 7
2018
Prague, Czech Republic. January 19 – March 2. “Just Breathe“, StellArt Gallery, Prague 8
See photos of the opening here.
2016
Prague, Czech Republic. April 1 – May 13. “ARR (All Rights Reserved)”, Kyklop, Prague 7
Prague, Czech Republic. May 13. “Umeni na ulice”, Korunovacni, Praha 7
2015
Prague, Czech Republic. May – present. “Signs”, Vegtral Restaurance Bar, Prague 7
2014
Prague, Czech Republic. December 11- January 14. “Letna Paintings”, The Farm, Prague 7
2013
Prague, Czech Republic. March 1 – May 1. “An Opening of Sorts”, Vegtral Restaurance Bar
Prague, Czech Republic. September 23 – present. “Smoking Section”, Vegtral Restaurance Bar
Prague, Czech Republic. October – present. “Eclectic Eccentric”, Galerie Chez Gerd
2012
Prague, Czech Republic. May 1 – January 5, 2015. “Conference Rooms”, Balcar Polansky Eversheds law offices
2011
Prague, Czech Republic. June 10. “Stavka!-Strike”, Letna
Prague, Czech Republic. February. “Vote Bunny”, Letna, Holesovice
2008
Prague, Czech Republic. January 12- March 15. “Speculum Speculorum – Contemporary Figurative Painting,” CzechInn Cafe, Vinohrady
2007
Prague, Czech Republic. January 10 – February 10. “Passage – between Passings and Becomings,” Kavovarna Galerie, Pasaz Lucerna
Prague, Czech Republic. May 3 – August 20. “Capture Witheld,” Ouky Douky Cafe, Holesovice
Prague, Czech Republic. May 31- June 15. “The Raw and the Cooked,” Kavovarna Galerie, Pasaz Lucerna
Group shows
2025
Prague, Czceh Republic, June 15 – July 15, “Once Upon a Time‘, Salon Koncept Letna.
2023
Prague, Czech Republic. March 2 – April 4. “Prodejni vystava del,” Salon Koncept Letna.
See photos of the opening here. (scroll right)
2022
Athens, Greece. “COV-ART Project,” Copelouzos Family Art Museum.
Prague, Czech Republic. Opening – Salon Koncept Letna.
2011
London, UK. April 19 – May 2. “The Enemies of Art”. Lauderdale House, Highgate Hill
2010
Prague, Czech Republic. September 16 – October 7. “Where’s Your Sense of Humor?” The Globe Bookstore and Cafe
Commercial Commissions/Private Commissions
2026, Private residence, Los Angeles, California
2023
CIUR a.s. – Pražská 1012, 250 01, Brandýs nad Labem – the bastards never paid!
Publications
The Superseding, A Prague Nocturne, by Kip Bauersfeld, Vote Bunny Press, Prague 2012
The Enemies of Art, by Charles Thomson, Robert Janas and Edward Lucie-Smith, Victoria Press, London 2011
The International Dictionary of Artists, World Wide Art Books, Santa Barbara, California, 2011
The Return of Kral Majales, Prague’s International Literary Renaissance 1990-2010 An Anthology, edited by Louis Armand, Litteria Pragensia Books, Prague 2010
Stuckism International, by Robert Janas, Victoria Press, London, 2009
Seeing Artist Kip Bauersfeld, by Leigh Hughes, Edifice Wrecked, Los Angles 2006
O cem sni muzi, by Olga Sommerova, Nakladatelstvi Slavka Kopecka, Prague 2005
Franz Kafka, Contemplation & Other Stories, Translated by Kevin Blahut, Twisted Spoon Press, Prague 1992
COV-ART Project, Copelouzos Family Art Museum, Athens, 2022