Karel štědrý: battle of the year
EXHIBITION DATE: 16. 3.- 31. 5 .25
EXHIBITION OPENING: SATURDAY 15. 3. from 5:00 PM
DERNISAGE OF THE EXHIBITION: TBC
EXHIBITION curator: david korecký
TEXT: david korecký
PLAYFULNESS IS NOT INFANTILITY, BUT A RATIONALLY EXPOSED AND CURIOUS ATTACK ON THE PREDEFINED CANONS OF ARTISTIC PRACTICE. THROUGHOUT THE PERIOD OF SŠĚDRÉ'S ACTIVITY ON THE ART SCENE, THIS HAS BEEN DETERMINED BY CONCEPTUALISM, ABSTRACTION, MINIMALISTIC TRENDS AND, ON THE OTHER SIDE, RETURNS TO NATURE.
SINCE THE 1980S, FOLLOWERS OF FLUID NEO-EXPRESSIONISM HAVE BEEN PLAYFUL, SUCH AS THE GENTLE HEAD OF THE STUDIO AT THE PRAGUE UMPRUM STANISLAV DIVIŠ, HAVE BEEN SUSPECTED OF SUBMISSION. IF FILM AND PHOTOGRAPHY TOOK AWAY FROM PAINTING IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY THE PATENT FOR REALISTIC ILLUSTRATION AND EPIC NARRATIVENESS, IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY IT IS ESPECIALLY THE POSSIBILITIES OF DIGITAL MANIPULATION AND THE SPEED OF DISTRIBUTION OF MEMES ON SOCIAL NETWORKS THAT ATTACK THE MAGIC OF PAINTERIAL SHORTCUTS AND POSTMODERN MORPHING OF REFERENCES.
ARTISTS FROM THE MID-2000S HAVE BEEN FREELY ASSOCIATED AND MOVED THROUGH CREATIVE GROUPS OBR, CLAN AND FIRMA, PROJECTING OTHER ARTISTIC GENRES INTO THEIR EXPRESSION, SUCH AS HIP-HOP, RAP, GRAFFITI OR DJING, WHERE THERE IS NO MATTER ABOUT INVENTING ORIGINAL COMPONENTS, BUT ABOUT THE MOST DYNAMIC AND AUTHENTIC SETS, PIECES, BREAKS. KAREL ŠTĚDRÝ REFLECTS THESE SUBCULTURES WITH THE INCLUSION OF QUOTES FROM THE HISTORY OF ART AND PRESENTS TO THE VISITORS HIS PLAYFUL BREAKDANCE IN THE GENRE OF EXPRESSIVE-SYMBOLIST PAINTING.
WE CAN FIND COUNTLESS BUILDING ELEMENTS OF GENEROUS CREATION. FROM THE FRENCH FAUVISTS' FASCINATION WITH COLOR, NAIVE FIGURATION IN FOLKLORE IMAGERY, BLACK HUMOR IN THE TRADITION OF CZECH GROTESQUE, TO THE DISRUPTION OF NOTORIOUSLY FAMOUS SHAPES AND LINES OF DECOR IN THE CASE OF RE-MAKES OF DESIGN ICONS, VASES OR SCULPTURES INSPIRED BY THE MERCURY BUILDING BUILDINGS. HOWEVER, THE CARRIER OF EMOTION IS NOT SENTIMENT, BUT A BATTLE WITH THE BACKGROUND OF THE LOGISTICS OF THE ARTIST'S STATUS IN A SOCIETY DESIROUS OF VERIFIED MESSAGES.
GENEROUS DESPITE ALL HIS OWN SMILE, DILIGENCE AND APPARENT APPROVAL OF THE ARTISTIC PROCESS, HE INCLINES TO SEARCH FOR ERRORS, ANOMALIES AND DISLOCATED CONNECTIONS. HE TESTS THE UNDERSTANDING OF THE WIDER PUBLIC, WHETHER THROUGH A DISPLACED COMPOSITION OF COLORS, A COLLAPSED SYSTEM OF LINES OR THE INTERSECTION OF REFERENCES TO THE MAINSTREAM AND SUBCULTURES.
