Jiri Georg Dokoupil is a contemporary Czech artist whose work confronts issues of artistic style and, in doing so, deliberately attempts to avoid having any sort of singular aesthetic. Rather, Dokoupil has developed a catalogued body of more than 100 different styles and techniques that he chooses from in a systematized approach that removes notions of distinctive, personal expression. One such example is his Whip Paintings series, which he creates by soaking a cowboy whip in paint and lashing a canvas. He has declared that his focus is on a search for authenticity, rather than an expression of irony. Dokoupil was born on June 3, 1954, in Kronov (formerly Czechoslovakia), and attended the Academy of Fine Arts in Cologne in 1976. Hans Haacke and other Conceptual artists have had an important influence on Dokoupil, both as figures to learn from and rebel against as he continues to make work.