Gallery Streets

                          

  SPZ galerie-look through 

On my way to work very   early in the morning I would often stop and peek through the garage like doors of the SPZ galerie .This tiny garage size gallery often provided an interesting start to my day. Officially the gallery is open only one afternoon a week and generally has only a few but interesting pieces of contemporary art by Czech and foreign artists. Currently they also have a very amusing banner on the façade of the building, a great piece of Czech humor by Martin Hašek  I thought. I remember passing the gallery in its earlier location between the hospitals above Karlovo náměstí years ago but I never go inside because of its very limited opening hours. Still this pocket size venue is at least worth a quick look.

 This is what  you see

After work another day I discovered FOX Gallery in the parallel Křemencova street. I had also walked past very often admiring a wonderful Biedermaier armchair in one of the windows but never seemed to have the nerve to go in. To my surprise I was very welcome by the helpful manager/proprietor who gave me a tour of the space and showed the wide spectrum of works they have to offer. Following an emerging and sensible current within Czech society they focus primarily on Czech artists, many of them young or artists who work in the Czech Republic. What is slightly   unusual is that apart from contemporary art they also offer contemporary jewelry and women’s clothes (these are on the lower floor) by local designers. There are also pieces of decorative art, which sometime really look just like art objects while being very practical at the same time.  I thought this might be inspired by the fact that many of those who buy art at present are women who like to be catered to in the same way as men.

Image courtesy of : https://www.facebook.com/pages/FOX-Gallery/460414277363178?sk=photos_stream

The art itself includes painting and sculpture in different media and is always arranged with a playful way. One further advantage is that the gallery also has regular fashion shows, musical perfomances and special workshops for kids.

Image courtesy of : https://www.facebook.com/pages/FOX-Gallery/460414277363178?sk=photos_stream

A few streets further down towards the river in Vojtěšská is  Galerie CzechDesign  which I first visited last week to look at an exhibit of Czech and Slovak printing fonts-I thought it was very interesting the on further inquiry found out that t was a project done in cooperation  with art  students. The fonts were displayed on posters that could be bought but one can also buy the fonts themselves. I thought it is relatively unique to see a small gallery try to promote students be it in a more commercial way.

Contemporary fonts

As the name suggests the gallery focuses on Czech design, perhaps more on industrial design and has a broad program of events and activities promoting not only design but also issues such as ecology or urban transportation.

And selection screens

After visiting this gallery I realized that within a few streets there are a number of engaging galleries which are aimed mostly at a local audience. The people behind these spaces all strive to present not only art but design as part of everyday day life an alternative to big box convenience lifestyles so many other locals have become fond of.