No people, GATE Gallery, Prague, 2013

Curator: Linda Sedláková 
Place: GATE Gallery, Husova street 21, Prague 1
Dates: 11.9. - 17. 11. 2013
Contact: http://galeriegate.cz/
Extended to:  30.11. 2013
  

 

 

In cooperation with Galerie Gema, GATE Gallery
is pleased to present new works by Jiří Sopko in the "No People" exhibition

An exhibition of the work of Jiří Sopko has been open in the GATE Gallery since 11 September 2013.

After a six-year absence, Jiří Sopko has returned to the Prague art scene with new works and, as always, his exhibition arouses great anticipation and excitement. The very name of the exhibition "No People" evokes numerous questions. Is it even possible for Sopko's pictures to be completely free of figures and be dominated by the landscape? It still looked that way in the middle of the summer, when it was time to send out notices about the upcoming exhibition. The fourteen canvases available at that time depicted only sections of the countryside from around Rynoltice and the author's mind was filled with a cycle of almost impressionist paintings of meadows and fields. He was convinced that he was tired of people and would paint, as he himself said, only "what he sees". Thus the unusual name. However, when he went to his country cottage, where he does most of his creative work and is far away from the bustle of the city, little by little the heads and gradually whole figures crept onto the paper by themselves. At first they were projected onto flowery greenery or levitated like coloured ghosts above the meadows, and then they became quite independent and let themselves be bathed in Sopko's typical coloured showers. Sopko himself says that he is returning to the world of his childhood and feels unrestrained in the small acrylic shapes on paper. And they are truly a joy to behold!
Similarly to his last exhibition in Prague, Sopko has included three sculptures in the exhibition, this time cast in bronze: Head, Mr. Brousek and Cat's Cradle. These were works originally completed in the 1980's that Sopko has now recreated in a new material. Similar as his classical diptychs and triptychs investigate what a single motif looks like in various coloured versions and how these colour variations affect one another when placed together, he is curious to find out how his sculptures "behave" when created in various materials.
In addition to four canvases from last year and the above-mentioned sculptures, the exhibition presents entirely new work from this year, painted using the acrylic technique, either two-metre canvases or paper with dimensions of 65 x 50 cm.
The exhibition was held in cooperation between GATE Gallery and Galerie Gema.

Linda Sedláková