Nová galerie of Vinohrady Invites Visitors for a Walk through the Woods
08.04.2015 10:28
Kašpar / Salajka / Rybníček – V lese vesele (Happily in the Wood)
Nová galerie
April 16, 2015 – May 17, 2015
Curator: Martin Mainer
Opening: 16. 4. 2015, 19:00
Prague, 10. 4. 2015 – Nová galerie in Prague’s Vinohrady (Balbínova 26, Praha – Vinohrady) is preparing an exhibition of contemporary young generation visual artists whose main expressive media is painting. The group exhibition of Adam Kašpar, Jan Rybníček and Martin Salajka is entitled V LESE VESELE (HAPPILY IN THE WOOD) and is curated by Martin Mainer. It invites its viewers for a walk through a wood which tells a story through the three narrators.
Adam Kašpar is a 3rd-year student at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague in Martin Mainer’s Painting Studio IV. In his works, he takes us to a forest we know from paintings of the 18th and 19th centuries. The air in the forest is crystal clear and nature itself suffices to present the landscape’s monumentality and reveal the author’s interest in the study of landscape painting. “Adam Kašpar is an incredibly talented painter; despite being a student, his excellent painting skills attract the attention of both the professional audience and the general public... His three-meter canvas The Fir Tree which was shown at the ArtPrague exhibition compared favourably with the works of other presented authors such as František Matoušek, Jan, Knap, Jakub Špaňhel or Martin Mainer... Kašpar, Rybníček and Salajka are authors worth our attention,” claims Nina Hedwic, the founder of Nová galerie.
Martin Salajka is a graduate from the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague, Prof. Michael Rittstein’s Painting Studio III. Salajka, like a fisherman who pulls fish out of water, casts a line into the human subconscious mind, dream reality or his own imagination and lets the viewers of his works see his catch of a world in which not only nature and animals act out symbolical narratives about the life cycle and the human or the painter’s soul.
His teacher, Professor Michal Rittstein, says: “Salajka’s paintings have a high level of attractiveness... ...Sitting for long hours on the bank, eyes fixed on the water surface, waiting for a catfish or some other fish, he has enough time for his soul to dive deep and walk towards these creatures. And not only them. Together with the axolotls, other phantoms and residues of his restless soul emerge. Just like the river winds and turns and often disappears in the rocky depths, so does Salajka’s mind, detached from reality, wander in the more or less muddy depths where a light beam of the expressive sun only seldom flickers..”
Jan Rybníček commenced his studies at FAVU Brno in Martin Mainer’s studio and on attaining his bachelor degree he went on to study at the Munich Academy of Fine Arts in Prof. Markus Oehler’s studio.
Rybníček’s canvases from the exhibited series, which works with contrasts – mysticism, irony, cruelty, gullibility, strength and weakness – will also take us to a forest. However, in this forest, we will not encounter animals as we know them, but rather metaphorical beasts as the bearers of specific qualities or attributes.
Rybníček’s working style, his way of thinking and ironically-grotesque approach as presented in his paintings can be metaphorically supplemented and clarified by one of his original poems:
“Lecher Bag Snatcher
A little girl leads two little girls.
A big man leads three little girls.
A bad cop leads three little girls and a big man.
The big man leads all
All our steps.”
Martin Mainer, as the exhibition curator and the teacher of Kašpar and Rybníček, states in his text:
“The curator will also try to express his opinion on the artists’ works...first of all thank them for their own words about themselves, each of them characterised themselves and their work clearly...Their joint exhibition will surely be appealing for many reasons; all three of them are young, beautiful, talented...
...when looking at Kašpar’s paintings several things come to my mind...does observing a landscape release specific thoughts, (feelings, conditions, reflections), earthiness?...similarly to erotic pictures subconsciously releasing eroticism?...among other things, Kašpar’s paintings made me think of the possibility to realize what landscape painting is and why eminent landscape painters are born again and again...where the thoughts behind these seemingly “thoughtless” paintings are – in the attempt to record the Earth landscape through painterly means as it appears...and are the thoughts really absent? or are they not?...talent, diligence, self-realization, the strength of imagery and a longing for classical painting – that is Kašpar.
...Rybníček’s intellectual game is full of great English humour, raciness, and just like Kašpar and Salajka, he is aware of the detached view from the position of painting and furthermore, in Rybníček’s partly Aesopian, partly dark and funny etudes in the painted image there is something that cannot be exactly expressed or described by words or even metaphorically outlined...his work has been certainly influenced by his studies at the Munich Academy...the clear gesture, the aiming at shortcuts and an expressive, strongly internally experienced shapeliness and the colourist’s hues, howbeit dim...strong artwork, sensitivity and juvenility of an artist in his prime...
...Both Kašpar and Rybníček are still Fine Arts Academy students, yet both have participated in exhibitions and their works are starting to penetrate the arts scene...
...Salajka completed his studies at the Academy of Fine Arts several years ago and is well known to the local arts world and often presents his works...he naturally continues in his studies and retains his own specific style of creating a painting, he strives to search and find, change and add, try...a fast shortcut, tales of beings, a net in a story network, both expression and detail...almost shamanic themes...yet themes that are just as important for us, the people of Central Europe in the 21st century...a seeker of the sense of life and human conscience...symbolism, colour, everything connected by an expressive gesture, straightforward and fast origination...clear compositions thickened with a whirl of other smaller unsettling compositions...light and dark and lightness and “colouring” as such are also Salajka’s attributes...fire and water...struggle...strength and fragility...
...I am looking forward to the exhibition and the installation of its composition...
Martin Mainer ( Limuzy, April 3rd, 2016)“
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KAŠPAR Adam
* July 2, 1993 in Litomyšl
Education:
2008 -2012 SUŠG Jihlava, advertising design dept.
2012 – present day, Academy of Fine Arts Prague, Martin Mainer’s Studio
Exhibitions:
2010: Kvaše, Cafe Etage, Jihlava
2012: Luční bouda with Kateřina Holá
2013: Modříne: Galerie Mainerová
2014: Ntk : První (Studio Exhibition)
Interview with Adam Kašpar
Which painting technique do you use?
Usually oil on canvas, wood, fibreboard, often gouache or eventually watercolour.
What are the subjects of your works? What will you present at the exhibition?
Mountains, forests, mountains, forests … I paint the Earth: alive, instinct with spirit, fulfilled in matter. In my paintings I try to master the keystones of Western painting: colour, light and space are my Sat Chit Ananda. I seek to study not only painting but also the things I address through painting – conscience, perception, nature... from all possible angles and as comprehensively as possible. My approach is classical throughout. I would rather define what I will exhibit once I see everything put together with Salajka and Rybníček... though I would definitely like to show Kanec (The Boar), two large-format forests, Aconcaqa and those large monochromatic watercolours that go with it (mountain and glacier studies), the large still life from Šárka, some horsetails...
Who are your artistic role models?
Caspar David Friedrich, Anselm Kiefer, Frederic Edwin Church, Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller, John Ruskin, Alex Grey, Pre-Raphaelites generally, I don’t really know, there are lots of them, all the Renaissance masters, no need to name those... from the late Czech artists: Mařák (and his whole school), Váchal, Kupka, from the living Czech artists perhaps Skála, Mainer...
RYBNÍČEK Jan
* June 20, 1988, Nové Město na Moravě, Czech Republic
Education:
since 2012 Academy of Fine Arts in Munich, Prof. Markus Oehlen
2011: Internship in Lisbon – Faculty of Fine Arts, Prof. I. Salteiro, C. Vidal
2009 - 2013: Faculty of Fine Arts in Brno, Prof. Martin Mainer, Luděk Rathouský
2006 - 2009: Střední škola umění a designu v Brně (Art and Design School in Brno), Petr Veselý
Individual Exhibitions:
2011 Himmelherrgott, Sausalito, Brno
2011 RUF(with Fabian Schoog), Roof, Lisboa
2013 Stumme sieger (with Judith Grassl), Munikat, Munchen
2013 Weissbier,Galerie Ckf, Munchen
2014 One flew over the nest(with Judith Grassl), Slévárna Vankovka, Brno
Selected Group Exhibitions:
2014 1-Page Gallery München "Oehlen Maschine"
Auktion Adbk Munchen
"Kunst, Kultur, Respekt" BBK GALERIE München
Der Schmetterling im Wandel der Zeit zu Gast im Sitzungssaal, Adbk München
Jahresausstellung Adbk München
Kunstförderpreis der lfa-Bank / lfa-Kunstkalender Titelbild
2013 Jahresausstellung Adbk München
2012 Auktion Adbk München
2011 Pokračuj, Galerie Chodovská tvrz, Praha 4.
Lets GAZE, Městské Divadlo Brno
2010 Brno ist Berlin Berlin ist Brno, Aula Favu
Interview with Jan Rybníček
Which painting technique do you use?
I work in various techniques – most often acrylic on canvas combined with spray... or coloured varnish.
What are the subjects of your works? What will you present at the exhibition?
In this series I have tried to work mostly with contrast – mysticism, irony, cruelty, gullibility, strength, weakness. I work with animals, which do not invoke natural authority at first...I upgrade, play with their roles and qualities...(strength, intelligence, instincts, the ability of introspection....:-))..often animals as such don’t really matter...as bearers of some qualities, attributes set up in this manner...through free expressive painting to resemble creatures in different situations.
Who are your artistic role models?
G. Baselitz, M. Lüpertz, The New Wild Ones, the Leipzig School( Neo Rauch…),
W. Sasnal, M .Borremanse, R. Mendoza, The Czech Grotesque, M. Mainer, J. Špaňhel, J. Typlt
SALAJKA Martin
* March 30, 1981 in Uherské Hradiště
Education:
1997- 2002 Střední uměleckoprůmyslová škola v Uherském Hradišti (School of Decorative Arts in Uherské Hradiště); Applied Painting
2002- 2005 Faculty of Fine Arts in Brno; Painting Studio 1, Doc. Petr Veselý
2005- 2008 Academy of Fine Arts in Prague, Painting Studio 3, Prof. Michael Rittstein
Individual Exhibitions:
2005 Lesní plesnivec: Galerie mladých, Brno
2008 Obrazy: Galerie Dorka, Domažlice (with Tomášem Němec)
Napůl: Galerie Via Art, Praha
2010 Obrazy: Městské divadlo Kolín
Malé formáty: Galerie U Zlaté štiky, Kolín
Obrazy: Galerie výtvarného umění, Náchod
2010 Obrazy: Galerie u sv. Jakuba, Nový Bydžov
Obrazy: Galerie Vltavín, Praha
2011 Betonový měsíc: Galerie Dolmen ,Praha
Obrazy: Galerie Felixe Jeneweina, Kutná Hora
SoliPSIsta: Galerie 21.století,Praha
2013 Obrazy , Galerie Kotelna , Říčany
Obrazy, Galerie Beseda , Ostrava
Zvlčení , Výstavní síň v divadle Karla Pippicha, Chrudim
2014 Heavy Mental , Reduta , Uherské Hradiště
Death Mental , Galerie Modřanská zvonice , Praha
2015 Sítě, Galerie AMB,Sbor kněze Ambrože, Hradec Králové
Interview with Martin Salajka
Which painting technique do you use?
Usually acrylic on canvas. However the skull series was based for the most part on experimenting with materials – they are painted with wax, coffee and combined techniques. I also enjoy painting on wood which I subsequently carve.
What are the subjects of your works? What will you present at the exhibition?
Nature, animals, the city, people – everything that surrounds me and what I go through in my life is what I try to get into my paintings, however not in a literal or realistic way but filtered through my own imagination. I try to work intuitively a lot and only later think about what I had painted.
Who are your artistic role models?
I’ll start with the local ones - Josef Váchal , Alén Diviš, Jiří Načeradský, Michael Rittstein , Martin Mainer, Jiří Petrbok, Josef Bolf and many others, often even authors who are my age – I like to know these people in person – to visit studios and see how the paintings come to life. And those from abroad - Dix, Blake, Rauch, Immendorff, Sasnal and many others, they would sum up to a very long list... I am trying to follow art comprehensively and not only fine art – I read quite a bit, watch films, listen to music. Inspiration and incentives for work come from every direction.
Kašpar / Salajka / Rybníček – V lese vesele (Happily in the Wood)
Nová galerie
April 16, 2015 – May 17, 2015
Curator: Martin Mainer
Opening: April 16, 2015, 7:00 p.m.
Opening:
April 16, 2015, 7:00 p. m.
Nová galerie
Balbínova 26
Praha - Vinohrady
Opening hours: Tuesday / Wednesday / Thursday 14:00 – 19:00, Saturday 11:00 – 15:00
www.novagalerie.cz
Further Information:
Nina Hedwic
gallerist
+420 608 231 209
info@novagalerie.cz
