Transformations of Mr Hadliz, The

Ladislav Novák was one of the more remarkable and versatile figures in Czech art over the past forty years. A pioneer in sound and concrete poetry, he became best known for the techniques he developed in the visual arts. Though a solitary figure, he is properly associated with Surrealism, to which he maintained a close affinity throughout his life. The Transformations of Mr. Hadliz is a combination of poetry, prose, and image. The twelve pictures, taken from a Danish calendar for 1976, are created by "froissage," a particular method that Novák invented of interpreting the random lines formed by crumpling paper. The text to the art was written in the spirit of automatism virtually overnight, and some sixteen years later in 1992. The volume is completed by poems from Novák's alter ego, Mr. Hadliz, as well as a conversation between the author and his subject.