Karel Pajma

In his geometric drawings, Karel Pajma (* 1979) shows how something originally quite simple – a straight line – can change into shapes that ultimately amaze with their complexity. Where did all those smoothly bent curves and circular shapes come from, when the author really did nothing but draw lines with a ruler?

Karel Pajma usually explains that his highly developed spatial imagination can be the legacy of his grandfather, who was a teacher of descriptive geometry. And if he wants to convince that the curves can really be decomposed into straight lines at a well-chosen angle of view, he does not hesitate to create simple models from paper and tightened strings.

From monochromatic circular compositions, which he began around 2005, Pajma has gradually worked his way up to airy, color-shaded and admirably laid-out architectures. He draws them in such a high concentration that he can always do this work only for a limited time, so that he does not overstrain himself  mentally too much. And it is surprising to what extent his drawings can sometimes resemble – albeit without conscious intention – meditative geometric shapes, which we know, for example, from the tradition of drawings of spiritistic media.