Lot 185

Martin Skalický (1976) KOPF

Martin Skalický finds a connection with the past in places where contemporary art has lost it. He is looking for new principles on how to deal with the matter and the realism of sculpture. It is based on conscious testing of sculpture craft technology. He then applies this technology to his own artistic practices. A successful example of this strategy is the last cycle of works, in which, for example, he formed a statue of the Gothic Madonna or an average historical statue. He pressed resin-impregnated textiles into these molds, which, after solidification, created a surprisingly new look for the original sculpture. He used similar techniques to create the plaster head presented here. Prague City Gallery lent Skalický molds for the heads of sculptures by Jan Štursa from the sculpture Humanity and Work from Hlávka's Bridge. Using these molds, he created a series of plaster heads.

Martin Skalický (1976) studied figurative sculpture in the studio of Michal Gabriel at the Faculty of Fine Arts, Brno University of Technology. He has been exhibiting regularly since 2005. Recent exhibitions include Big Little Big Horn (with Jakub Tomáš, New Gallery Prague 2019), Shining (Dominican Monastery at St. Giles Prague 2019), Generation (Moravian Gallery Brno 2019), I'm Not Afraid (ProLuka Gallery, Prague 2020), Dance in the Dark (Tišnov 2020).