White Unicorn Gallery in Klatovy
7. 10. – 2. 12. 2012

Aleš Brázdil, Roman Franta, Jan Gemrot, Patrik Hábl, Jiří Hauschka, Zbyněk Havlín, Jiří Houska, Jakub Janovský, Miroslav Javůrek, Karel Jerie, Martin Kámen, Martin Káňa, Markéta Korečková, Petr Kožíšek, MICL, Lukáš Miffek, Dušan Mravec, Blanka Nováková, Ondřej Oliva, Róbert Palúch, Milan Perič, Martin Salajka, David Saudek, Paulina Skavova, Marek Slavík, Petra Šimková, Roman Trabura, Šimon Vahala, Jaroslav Valečka, Pavel Vašíček, Petr Vašíček, Vladimír Větrovský, Jan Wolfchen Vlček, Zdeněk Trs

 Curators: Rea Michalová, Helena Fenclová

This project began to come together under my curatorial leadership three years ago. At the time, it culminated in the publication of Original and Prospective (2011). Since then, their differences of opinion have disappeared and this group of selected artists is truly unified by a shared view of their work and its significance for society. The project began as a modest antidote to the fact that many critics and theorists are inclined towards a hard-line conceptual and noticeably dehumanized view. To the west of our borders, however, this tendency is usually mentioned only in relation to the historical context in which a work was made. The situation on the contemporary Czech art scene is such that the recipients of “prestigious” awards only rarely employ traditional artistic approaches. The result is a strange atmosphere of discrimination within the artistic community that, as in 1990s England (witness the Stuckists), has managed to unify our markedly diversified art scene at least in the view that classic artistic media are and will be a way in which artists may express themselves entirely naturally (and without fear).

The exhibition’s carefully selected works present artists who are brought together by this overarching idea. As we compare their various works, we should bear in mind their absolute divergent artistic approaches and message. This project should be understood as an attempt at presenting works of art that avoid being needlessly extreme, effect-oriented, or in search of scandal. Instead, we should try to see the exhibited works as they truly are. Thirty-four different approaches to the question of making art, all of them highly respectable. Thirty-four different starting points. Thirty-four original perspectives.

                                                                                                                           Rea Michalová