Jan Jakub Kotík: Marlboro Poster

Jan Jakub Kotík: Marlboro Poster
+ host festivalu: Zbyněk Baladrán

Jana Jakub Kotik’s Marlboro Poster (2004) on a blind Vršovice facade … This multi-layer, technical image refers to the now legendary advertisement for American Marlboro cigarettes. It’s a critical review, yet it does not suppress, instead it rather develops the original magical visualness and offers a number of meanings; further interpretative layers. What is the new context of archetypal visualness of a horse-rider? Is this image political? Is it magical? What landscape is the rider passing through? What do the doubling, absence, shadow and mirroring in the image mean? Does this image speak to the issue of portrayal and reading an image in general? What knowledge or simple emotion for deciphering different cultural codes does this image require of me? Is it strong enough to stand out amongst competition from real advertisement, information tables and cautionary traffic signs?