The Vinohrady New Gallery prepares exhibition of the Contemporary Young Generation

Malinová / Vytiska / Roubal / Bicek / Horálek– Jen obloukem pokřivenou pohádku napravíš (Only by Bending Can You Fix a Twisted Fairy Tale)

New Gallery
19. 2. 2015 – 7. 3. 2015
Curator: Pavel Kubesa
Opening: 19. 2. 2015, 19:00

Prague, February 6^th, 2015 – Recently opened New Gallery in Prague’s Vinohrady (Balbínova 26, Praha –  Vinohrady) prepares exhibition of visual artists belonging to the contemporary young generation, who express themselves mainly through figurative painting and sculpture. The group exhibition of Pavla Malinová, Jan Vytiska, Tomáš Roubal, Roman Bicek and Vojtěch Horálek entitled Jen obloukem pokřivenou pohádku napravíš (Only by Bending Can You Fix a Twisted Fairy Tale), curated by Pavel Kubesa, lays out moods of restless “fairy tale” worlds in New Gallery areas.

Pavla Malinová, Jan Vytiska, Tomáš Roubal, Roman Bicek and Vojtěch Horálek are often well-known representatives of the contemporary Czech young visual arts scene sharing not only generational bonds, but also similar moods in their original works. Figuration framed by certain introspection directed towards the lands of distant and ancient fairy tales, inexplicit folklore and pop cultural symbolism appear in their canvases, drawings, collages and objects. Pavel Kubesa, the exhibition curator, says: “The encounter of these artists through a joint exhibition makes sense. There is a specific narrative moment, the mood of a shared story which is emerging here. The artists (perhaps even not deliberately) formally hint at the fairy tale genre, despite the fact that its limits and its true form are not clear, only through the present narrative poetry. The narrated stories therefore imply an interpretation of the fairy tale, where fairyland, “Faerie” is – in Tolkien’s words -  a perilous land where there are pitfalls for the unwary and dungeons for the overbold...” The exhibition title Only by Bending Can You Fix a Twisted Fairy Tale hence plays with the extent to which such fairyland corresponds to our real lives. And if both worlds were to merge, to what extent would the expression “fairytale life” lose its downgraded coat of sentiment and cheap emotional kitsch. “The bend becomes a symbol for overcoming any twists and distortions. In a way, it is a distortion in itself, yet it also implies a metaphorical movement towards the final goal – it encompasses work, an inner task, the drama of action taken when something is not right,” Kubesa claims.

The works of Pavla Malinová (1985) often reflect the charm of ancient oriental narratives, the concealed magic of their visual keys within ornamental locks and double vision. Jan Vytiska (1985) approaches fairy tales in a more radical way - through their deformation caused by the deep folklore trauma. Roman Bicek (1981), on the other hand, prefers to anchor his own mythology in childhood, which is the mental space of fairytales, and (hyperbolically speaking), fairy tales transformed to „horror“ permeate the advertising themes in Tomáš Roubal’s objects. Horálek expresses a specific romantic desire for the constant fulfilment of the traditionally perceived medium of painting, for robust painting gesture and “great themes”, which not only brings back his “boyish” adventures but also dramatizes the latest up-to-date pop cultural themes. Then the intended “bend” is taken on through humour, irony, playfulness, personal retrospective or imaginative rehabilitation, painting therapy. The concepts of fairy-tale and that of “metaphor of bend” are in no sense characterization of artistic programmes of these authors then, but much more a kind of a key enabling us to undergo certain archetypal story which could become – through the very representational nature of their works as a one of possible ways – accessible to us.

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Malinová / Vytiska / Roubal / Bicek / Horálek – Jen obloukem pokřivenou pohádku napravíš (Only by Bending Can You Fix a Twisted Fairy Tale)

Nová galerie
19. 2. 2015 – 7. 3. 2015
Curator: Pavel Kubesa

Opening: 
19. 2. 2015, 19:00

New Gallery
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