To mark the occasion of Ivan Ouhel’s exhibition in Kolowrat Palace in Prague, the Gema Art Publishing House published the author’s monograph with over three hundred fully coloured reproductions in 2009. The monograph is divided into four independent books – Texty (“Texts”), Hledání (“Searching”), Neklid (“Restlessness”), Svoboda (“Freedom”). The first book gently outlines the development of Ouhel’s work and his sources of inspiration and the text is accompanied by over sixty photographs from the author’s personal archive. The remaining three books are mainly visual and devoted to three periods in Ouhel’s work. “Searching” presents his earliest work, covering the period from 1969 to 1981. In that time, the young artist was searching for a way to express his experience of the world. He was trying to open a new visual space, at first by adding three-dimensional elements to his canvases and later by creating transparent works using Plexiglas. From 1983 to 1999 the artist underwent a period of “Restlessness”. The work from this period seems to suggest that the author was afraid that he might not have time enough to paint everything he wished to paint and, with strokes full of tense energy, he created works full of excitement, urged by his inner restlessness. Even the names of the works – Birth of the white sphere, Intersection – confirm this. The last book captures the most recent period of Ouhel’s work, ranging from 1999 to 2009 and characterized as a period of “Freedom”. It seems that the artist has freed himself from the inner pressure, the painting is more relaxed. Fragmentary lines are replaced with large calm coloured areas. Inspired by his visit to Toronto, the painter’s canvases were of a purely geometrical nature for some time.

The book was nominated for the “2009 Graphic Masterpiece Award” by the Academy of Design of the Czech Republic.