Inge Kosková (*1940) studied art education, mathematics, and descriptive geometry at Palacký University in Olomouc. In the 1960s she worked as a lecturer at the Department of Art Education of the same university and expanded her knowledge of modern art by attending lectures by the Czech artist and theorist Václav Zykmund. She also worked as a teacher at art schools and as a graphic designer. After the fall of communism, she worked again for several years at the Department of Art Education at Palacký University in Olomouc as head of the experimental drawing studio. Since the time of her studies, she has consistently devoted herself mainly to drawing. In her early work, influenced by surrealism, the focus on the figure prevails, and since the 1970s she has been reacting to the human situation during the period of normalization in her depiction of the figure. This was followed by an interest in landscape, records of structures, and writing, and later, influenced by yoga, she made drawings with mantras and records of physical sensations. In recent years she has been using drawing to record the music.
In her artistic development, we can trace the progression from concrete forms to abstract and deeply intimate expression. Inge Kosková's entire work is accompanied by the experience of rhythm in all manifestations of life. She has always reflected nature with extraordinary sensitivity, but she has not depicted her landscapes as seen but as inwardly experienced. For her, drawing is an activity that is created without intention, in a state of freedom, relaxation, and experience of the present time and place. In the fragile, trembling lines of her drawings, we can find a sense of contrast between black and white. Her authentic artistic expression and life attitudes are linked to yoga, which she has been practicing since the 1990s. She created the Drawings with Mantra series, where drawing gestures are combined with repetitive pronunciation of mantras. These drawings were created by repeating one shape for several hours, calming the mind, and giving energy. In the Body Feelings series, in quiet concentration, she brought the experience of her own body and the flow of its energies into the drawings. A remarkable phase of her work in recent years has been devoted to drawing while listening to musical compositions; she perceives the music with her whole being while drawing, noting the rhythm, time sequence, strength, and pitch of the notes. For the artist herself, a sense of truthfulness and a state of inner harmony is crucial when creating.
