Alex Sádlo (1927–2021) grew up in the small village of Tulcik, Slovakia, where from a young age he developed an affinity for music and art. In 1945 he enrolled at the Prague School of Graphic Art, but was forced to flee after three years due to the Communist takeover. Only 21 years old, Sádlo embarked on a a tumultuous journey across the border to Austria, surviving by selling small portraits drawn on envelopes or letters. After a year in a refugee camp, he was granted residence in Australia, where he developed his pioneering abstract and optical painting practice.

Stereoscopic begins with the artist’s fascination for depicting three-dimensional space, through experiments with line, shape and shadow. His mastery of such techniques can be seen in Irregular Dimensions (1976) and Pink Landscape (1976). This series became influential for emerging artists in Australia in the 1950s and 60s, and is credited with helping to bring Op Art and Colour Field Painting to the Australian art scene.

Alongside his illusionistic paintings, Sádlo’s Stereoscopic collages create striking optical effects. In these works, the artist developed a unique technique of cutting 3D holographic postcards into identical strips before meticulously rearranging them into new, prismatic forms. During his vibrant career as an artist, Sádlo worked in a range of media, including figurative painting, jewellery, ceramics and vitreous enamel, a selection of which is displayed in our downstairs gallery.

As a painter, Sádlo initially made figurative work on a small scale, inspired by impressionist and expressionist styles. But the influence of Modernism and the Aboriginal art he was surrounded by in Australia led the artist towards more abstract styles. In the 1950s, Sádlo began to overlay his figurative paintings with carefully articulated stripes, adding a new dimension to the depth and colour of his work.

Sádlo continued to experiment with different degrees and forms of abstraction, revelling in a new-found ability to depict the joys of music, movement and colour. He was often drawn to subjects such as musicians and entertainers, as seen in Behind the Scenes (1957) and Clown in the Ring (1953). Sádlo later experimented with translating this dynamic visual language into other media, such as the acrylic ribbon used in Head in Movement (1967).

In 1972 Sádlo moved to the UK, and continued to create jewellery. These varied in design from ‘wearable art’ – which sought to replicate his paintings in miniature – to pendants made by setting carvings in silver. Sádlo was a skilled carver, and he would often take fruit pips or stones in which he could see figures suggesting themselves to him, and he would render these with great precision and delicacy. Sádlo also worked in vitreous enamel, with a technique he developed whilst working as an opal-cutter and being fascinated by the iridescent colours of the gemstone. Although his experimentation with enamel started on a small scale, he soon found ways of applying the same technique to larger works such as Abyss (1971) and gained a reputation as one of the most talented handlers of the medium, representing the UK in Limoges in 1978 and 1980.

Sádlo also made a number of ceramic works, which he often produced in collaboration with his wife Gaynor, who was working as a sculptor when they met in Adelaide in the 60s. These works highlight a number of pivotal aspects in the artist’s work including the influence of Modernism, a preoccupation with creating three-dimensional space, and a determination to bring the exuberance of his art into everyday life.