Juraj Bartusz

Juraj Bartusz (23 October 1933 – 25 September 2025) was a Slovak sculptor and academic teacher. In a non-conventional approach from the mid-1960s, he created time-space statues and began computer art in the 1970s. He co-founded and headed the department of visual arts at the Technical University of Košice.

Life and career Bartusz was born on 23 October 1933 in the village of Kamenín in the Nové Zámky District. His father was a mason. At the age of twelve, Bartusz narrowly survived the detonation of a land mine during the Second World War. Though gravely injured, he considered himself fortunate as many children from his village were killed in the fighting.

Bartusz studied sculpture at the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague from 1954 to 1958 with Josef Wagner and later with Jan Kavan. He studied further at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague, first with and then with . After 1968, Bartusz participated in underground art circles, including clandestine exhibitions and meetings that were subject to surveillance and interrogations by the State Security. In 1973, he was questioned for exhibiting works in Hungary without official approval, as they had not passed the ideological commission. His artistic practice, characterized by action-oriented approaches and experimentation with diverse materials and forms, was guided by the principle: “The principles that are established must be broken. That applies in art as well. If you don’t break them, you remain standing in one place.” "The broad spectrum of author’s work includes constructivist sculpture, action and conceptual art, site-specific art, as well as installation. In the nineteen eighties he started working with the time factor and began to create time-limited paintings and drawings, and model his works by forceful hits, e.g. throwing bricks to solidifying plaster or slamming the material with planks or rubber straps, referring to the energy of the author’s gesture."

Academic career Bartusz was a professor at the Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Bratislava from 1990 to 1999. In 1999, Bartusz co-founded the department of visual arts at the Technical University of Košice, He founded a department of visual arts and intermedia at the university, heading the 3D Studio of free Creativity.

Bartusz died in Košice on 25 September 2025, at the age of 91.

Slovak National Gallery in Bratislava East Slovak Gallery, Košice Albertina, Vienna, Austria Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest, Hungary House of Arts, Olomouc, Czech Republic Villa Merkel, Esslingen am Neckar, Germany Nitra Gallery, Nitra, Slovak Republic L. Kassák Museum, Nové Zámky, Slovak Republic The Art Gallery of Považie, Žilina, Slovak Republic