Fast Confession - Artist Kristian Kodet: I behave like a madman on a plane

You had a jubilee recently, how did you celebrate it? How did you feel? It must have been some party...

Well, you're only seventy once in your life, right? It had to be celebrated ... It was a party with a vernissage, but it was so beautiful because I concentrated all the paintings from recent years into it. It was amazing, there were a lot of friends and celebrities. Everybody had a great time and I enjoyed it. It seemed like I was popular. (laughter)

I would like to invite all of your readers to an exhibition of my paintings at the New Town Hall in Prague 2, which is open until mid September, then I pack it all up and they will travel around the world. And I have to say there is much to be seen, I am also glad that the paintings sell well.

What presents did you get?

Imagine that after the show I wanted to take the presents home and found out that I do not have a big enough car, so I brought it to South Bohemia with a truck. I received very personal gifts, lots of wine and spirit, and some paintings...

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Seriously? Do you hang other people's paintings in your home, too, not just your own?

Yes, but only some, but I will not tell you from who... (laughs)

For your seventieth birthday, you were awarded honorable citizenship from Prague 1, what does that entail?

You know, I don't know, but since the revolution I have lived and worked on the Old Town Square, so it was nice of the Prague 1 town hall that they honored me in such a way.

You still travel to Florida, part of the year you're there and part here. How much time do you spend here in Bohemia?

I live here most of the year, but I don't like the winter much, so we spend the winter months in Florida.

This summer was a bit hot here, and you are not even on the Old Town Square, but in southern Bohemia.

Of course, because it's beautiful there. It was hell in Prague, there was a mad heat. In Florida there is a breeze from the sea. We have a house near the sea, and there is air conditioning everywhere, which is absolutely not the case here. This year I really could not stand it here, and if I were in my apartment on the Old Town Square, I would die there. (laughter)

There is at least a forest in the south where I can hide from the sun.

How many paintings did you paint this summer?

Many. I did a lot of them in America and had them sent here. Now I'm sending them back again, plus some new paintings, because I'm preparing an exhibition in Florida.

Now you are spending the summer in southern Bohemia and your Prague apartment is empty, why don't you lease it?

No way! We have collections there, it's the home of the whole family, we are from Prague. That is not an option. No way.

In November you fly back to Florida. But you do not like flying.

I hate it. It's something I cannot get used to. I'm terrified, crazy, it's horrible. I fly with my wife or daughter. They're fine but they're ashamed of me because I lie down in the aisle and do terrible things, I visit the pilot, I want to get off the plane...I just act like a madman, but thank God, the flight attendants are used to it, I'm probably not the only madman. (laughter)

You say that you are at home in Bohemia, yet you had to get used to life in America. How is life there?

I like life there very much, the people are incredibly kind. The interpersonal relationships there, it's crazy. When a car pulls over there, twenty cars will stop to see if anything is wrong. Here they let you be. No one will help you, people are indifferent to the others, it makes me sad. For example, I'm used to the shops here, but I came to the Czech Republic and spent four hours at the grocery store. The quality of food quality is incomparable. Even when we go to Austria, my wife buys soap or washing powder. It's the same box we have here, but the powder smells nice, the soap makes foam, it's incomparable. Whatever you get on a plate in a restaurant in Austria is incomparable to what you get when you cross the border and go to a local restaurant. It's crazy sometimes. Once again, there is starting to be a big difference between the West and the East.

You experienced communism. When you think about the huge selection of everything there is today, do you remember standing in queue for something?

Jesus, for everything, toilet paper, everything. There was nothing, you had to have a butcher friend to secretly cut you a piece of salami. It was really a terrible time. I remember it well and I'm glad it's over. But on the other hand, now there is too much of everything and people waste food, while the poor part of the planet goes hungry. I'd love it if we could find a symbiosis. But I'm sure I will not live to see it.

We recently celebrated 50 years since August 1968. How do you remember it?

We had friends visiting from Austria. We went to sleep, and suddenly one of them said that tanks were on their way here. So I told him (the friend from Austria): "You're crazy, don't drink anymore." And it was reality, after a while it all started, it was crazy. I went to the streets, I fought too. A person who has not experienced it cannot imagine. Young people today have no idea, so it's good that we are reminded of it. Do not forget history because it can repeat itself. I do not like recalling that time, no one knew what would be, if something would happen. It was such a feeling of hopelessness, you know?

Do people in America know where you are from? Are they also interested in our political situation, what it was like and what it is today?

Of course they are, they thought we were free. That's impossible to grasp, you can't explain it to them. I lived in New York for thirteen years, and I'm there in the galleries, I'm known. So many people know a lot about the Czech Republic, Czechoslovakia, but communism is unimaginable to them.

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You have a lot of Czech friends there. If I am not mistaken, the Matuškas live right next to you. Do you organize Czech evenings?

Sure I do, every day. We celebrate a traditional Christmas together. We are all Czechs. There is a beautiful tree all the way up to te ceiling that Olinka decorates and it's nice. Then New Year's Eve. But we've gotten used to being together almost every day. We deal with day-to-day things and politics, and sometimes we remember those closest to us who are no longer with us.

Are you talking about your brother Jiří?

For example. I remember sending him a letter from America and he told me off for putting him in danger, so I did not write to him for thirteen years. For thirteen years we did not know anything about each other. When I arrived in 1990 and went to see him, he was in the garden, he barely looked at me and yelled: It's about time you came. I had to organize a revolution to get you back home! He was a fool, a madman, but a brilliant actor. I liked him.

Painting takes a lot of time. What do you do when you're not creating anything?

I contemplate. Women, wine, paintings, the things I enjoy. I also look forward to America again, where I have a lot of peace and quiet to work.

What is the first thing you will do when you arrive in November?

I'm going to lie down because I don't sleep on the plane. Maybe I'll take a pill and sleep for two days, I'll take three sleeping pills on the plane and not sleep one second, it's crazy. It's my curse.

What do the doctors say?

Well, they tried to explain it to me, but I won't let them. When the plane starts moving, I go crazy.

At your age, people sometimes have to go to doctors and they always say you shouldn't drink, smoke, you have to exercise, eat well...

I don't go there, I have a good doctor with whom I always talk about fishing and I couldn't care less about the rest. (laughter)

So you're a passionate fisherman?

Also, but I used to be more, now not so much.

You are always dressed very stylishly, what fashion do you like?

The comfortable kind.

Well, I feel like you just left a luxury boutique, came from a stylist. You're laughing at me....

You are adorable.

Seriously, very few people dress that nicely today, you have a scarf, a nice shirt, a jacket ...

I have to tell you a story, I was once at an event where there was a recommended dress code, so I had a tux. It ended somewhere around three, four o'clock in the morning, I was still in the tux, I didn't change and decided to go back to South Bohemia that night. My wife was not there yet, she said she would arrive in the morning. So I went to the woods to pass the time, but I went in the tux! I walked, absorbed the energy, and suddenly I started collecting mushrooms. Since then it is said that I walk through the woods in a tuxedo. People still make fun of me today, but I do not mind, it's funny.

You are a famous person, do people recognize you on the street? Do they want to take pictures or ask for your autograph? What is it like?

It's terrible. Especially in Tábor! As it's a small place, people notice you everywhere. But I do not want to complain, it's just that they sometimes want to take a picture when I'm in a hurry, plus they have no idea how to use the camera...It's funny. But, on the other hand, it's great when people recognize you, when they know who you are. It's the same in America, it's amazing. That my painting has some meaning that people like it and appreciate me for it. It's a priceless feeling when somebody, anybody, appreciates your work.

Thank you very much for the interview, Mr. Kodet.