Jiří Černický / Divoký sny

The  billboard

Jiřík has finally made it to the Rudolfinum. He has come of age as a man and an artist. Last week I got an invitation for the opening of Jiří Černický / Divoký sny.As I have written before, the Rudolfinum which has become the pinnacle of artistic acknowledgement within the relatively small local artistic community. Having known Jirka for over 20 years I was quite curious to what he has now evolved into.

His artistic path started under communism when he enrolled to become teach Czech and art teacher which at the time also took him to study in the Soviet Union for a short while. He later dropped out and   was eventually accepted to the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague. It was there that he met his wife artist Míša who has been his long suffering supporter ever since. As is often the case though he has mellowed with age and maybe even with his children.

                Travel has always played an important part in his of his work which was evident in numerous pieces is his biggest show to date.

One of his most audacious adventures was to hitchhike from Europe to Ethiopia and back through parts of West Africa and the Sahara home. In the very early 90’s when most Czechs still mourned restricted access to Croatia due to the civil war and thought that shopping in Polish border towns was the way to go Jiří really was an explorer or unchartered lands.

Politics, dissent and anti-globalism of course have been mainstay of his louvre; he is of course a self-respecting contemporary artist. Conceptualism has been a guiding force.

This time George has morphed into the philosopher inventor, a sage of the world around us. While bringing up environmentalism or overpopulation in an engaging way he also make the viewer think of things we come across every day.

The exhibition is very humorous with stuffed wolves and spinning halo Madonnas   and acrylic walls which comes to show that the artist has matured with a tad of fun.He has come to conform to our  notion of  ageing rebel.

Rudolfinum - Roger Hiorns

  Under the directorship of Petr Nedoma the Rudolfinum has become the only state funded gallery to bring contemporary international art to the Czech Republic. The Rudolfinum is the only gallery of its size in the country to be able to host contemporary art on such a level over many years. The list of  foreign artists is quite long and impressive, everyone  from Raqib Shaw to Damien Hirst to the likes of Ana Mendieta, have all made their way to this grand gallery. The provocative works on display are often in stark contrast to the very graceful interiors of the exhibition space, making both stand out in equal measure.

Roger Hiorns

  While the National Gallery focuses on Czech art and old Masters, international art is mostly left to small independent galleries which struggle to thrive on such a small scene. The Rudolfinum also has the added advantage of being able to host both big and smaller shows.

   At the  end of May  Mr.Nedoma opened the show of Roger Hiorns which was curated  by David Korecký.This is yet another show with focuses on contemporary British art, perhaps as nod to where the epicenter of the art world has shifted to.

Roger Hiorns, Untitled, 2014, Courtesy Corvi-Mora, London,

  Roger Hiorns is one of the younger generation of British artists to gain wider recognition in the last few years. Though too young to be considered one of the YBAs who emerged in the early 90’s, he was nominated for the Turner Prize in 2009.This show was the most conceptual I have seen in the Rudolfinum to date and might summarize Hiorns’s oeuvre. Most of his works are not immediately understandable  to most as a major theme in his works are objects that tell a different story from what is evident at first sight-“an impression is an illusion“. His compositions of rigid industrial materials alongside the human body are meant to provoke thoughts through a certain amount of discomfort.

Roger Hiorns, Untitled, 2011-12, Courtesy Corvi-Mora, London

Photo by Jiří Očenášek

  After a short opening speech and a glass of bubbles in the atrium those invited were confronted with installations based used recycled industrial materials and mechanical parts such an old plane engine which was always juxtaposed with something much more fragile. In this particular case fragility came in the form of three nude models that sat on and occasionally moved around the pieces. The great views of the Prague castle also created an apt contrast to disused car parts which were on display .The play between metal and flesh does prove to be very effective especially on the backdrop of the classically elegant rooms of the gallery.

A view from one of the rooms

Photo by Jiří Očenášek

   I am not sure what many of the guests thought, especially the older male generation but I am sure that Mr. Hiorns, Korecký and Nedoma have succeeded in shaking things up a bit again.