Drawn comics have played a significant role in tramp subculture since its birth in the 1920s. Peculiar to Czechoslovakia, “tramping” has attracted individuals who shared a love of nature and its inherent freedom, many of whom were inspired by romantic ideals promoted in books by Jack London or Karl May. Despite the possible negative connotations associated with the English word (drawn originally from London's autobiographical memoir
The Road), the "tramps" in question, “
vandráci” or “
čundráci,” would simply abandon their urban dwellings for a weekend or during vacation period and visit their favourite sites in the woods or meadows. The place to which they traveled is called a “
flek,” and this could be a comfortable place to stay or set up a camp, or a site where the tramps' shed or cabin is built, perhaps itself becoming the heart of a tramp settlement [
trampská osada]. An ”
osada” is a stable group of tramps, which is typically formed by at least three individuals. Among tramps there are numerous unwritten rules that designate customs such as, for example, the proper way to greet a fellow tramp or shake their hand; but these rules are hardly universally accepted or acknowledged. There is also disagreement, even today, about questions such as “what is tramping?” or “who is a real tramp?”
But a common trait for all tramps is their passion for free roaming, untouched nature, and independence. It was these very inclinations that often caused them problems – and not only during the communist era, for their idea of free-time social activity for weekends or holidays was markedly different from that of the most other people. There was never such a thing as a clear personal hierarchy among tramps; there are no official leaders, the “osady” are independent from one another, and independent from these are the so-called “tramps-loners.” Each “osada” (or each individual) plans their own activities freely, according only to their own mutual agreement. The lack of transparency or clear subordination to any official political structure made tramps highly susceptible to different forms of bullying. But this never robbed them of their relative independence from the political regime or system.
The first “osady” appeared in the area of today's Czech Republic. Gradually, these were joined by Slovak counterparts, especially in the west of present-day Slovakia. The first “osada” reported in Slovakia was founded in Bratislava and named “Waikiki.” In the 1960s, tramps were noticed also in the Košice Region. The gradual spread of tramp subculture throughout all of Czechoslovakia was facilitated partly by the fact that young male citizens were conscripted and obliged to serve the military in different parts of the country. Throughout these times, tramp art thrived, drawing on miscellaneous situations in the everyday lives of tramps: camp meetings, wanderings through nature, relationships and interactions among the people within and outside the subculture. Humour in general often reflects upon the current social, political or economic situation, and tramp humour is no different. This makes it difficult to fully characterize but very rewarding if one wishes to understand the lives of tramps during the socialist era or even today.
The present collection of drawings by Lexo includes his works created between 1989 and 2009, and thus representsan exhaustive overview of the artist's output. Although it was only in 1989 that Lexo started producing his artwork, he often drew inspiration from situations specific to the pre-revolution era. In fact, the position of tramping as a suspicious activitydid not ceaseto exist even after 1989. Lexo's works appeared originally in the tramp magazine
Severkaand the present collection was issued as
Lexovinyon the occasion of the periodical's 20
thanniversary. In addition to the drawings,
Lexoviny includes also short prose by the tramp known asLexo (andotherwise known as the architect Eduard Alexy). The book
Lexovinywas released thanks to contributions by readers of
Severkamagazine,and it was publicly introduced during the meeting of Tramp Club Bratislava in May 2011. The uniqueness of this eventcan be fully appreciated only when considering that no official periodical nor publication of a tramp-related book was thinkable before 1989. Such material wasspread chiefly by means of samizdat. A second book of works by Lexo was issued by Severka in 2017 (
Lexo – výber z trampskej tvorby).
