Curatorial Text / Kostka Gallery / Matouš Lipus, Aleš Novák: The Unfeigned Heart

KOSTKA GALLERY

presents the exhibition

MATOUŠ LIPUS (CZ), ALEŠ NOVÁK (CZ): The Unfeigned Heart

curator: Christina Gigliotti
opening: 9. 10., 7pm
exhibition duration: 9. - 31. 10. 2014

During his turbulent and often agonizing life, German Romantic poet Friedrich Hölderlin traveled by foot long distances all throughout Europe. He would walk for weeks back and forth to visit his clandestine lover, a married woman, every first Thursday of each month. On one particular journey to her, Hölderlin became so fatigued and hunger-stricken, he started to have visions. The natural surroundings of mountainous landscapes he was traveling through became abstracted, colors swirling together and the outside world pressing enormously heavy on him – yet he walked on. The last thing he remembered (whether real or imagined we will never know) before giving in and collapsing was finding himself in a classical Greek sculpture garden.

The ideas or values expressed in the exhibition The Unfeigned Heart can be compared to those of Romantic poets such as Hölderlin – the fragility and naivity of man, questioning his existence in volatile surroundings, while also attempting to understand the ''self'' and keep standing amongst all of the chaos. To present this,  Lipus and Novák have attempted a merging of two mediums – abstract landscape and figurative sculpture – intended to create a specific, rather tumultuous environment for the viewer as well as a reference human consciousness. Novák's vast, whirring landscape – possibly imagined or dreamt, acts as a mirror to our own mind or memory, which is never completely clear or logical, but instead comprised of vaguely discernible structures, re-occuring patterns and with precise images also standing out momentarily from the fog.

The visible delicacy of man is also intentionally present; as Lipus eschews sculptural 'monumentality' and instead allows for flaws and unidealized forms, which are more human and relatable. What we see is a person in the setting of a great, almost sublime landscape. His presence is not demanding or conquering, but instead seemingly meager or insignificant. He could be anyone, passing through  – a shepherd, a pilgrim, even a poet. Despite this rather intimidating enormity of the outside world, The Unfeigned Heart of humankind, however, vulnerable as it may be, keeps beating for its passions and still today attempts to answer, whether it be through art, music, or poetic prose, the nature of our existence with as much fervor as a Romantic poet journeying to see his beloved.

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Matouš Lipus *(1987) practices sculpture at The Academy of Arts and Architecture & Design in Prague. His works have been shown in both group and solo shows, including most notably his sculptural exhibition in 2013 Possible Charm in Galerie Jeleni. His piece made from solid concrete, Night, is also one of three sculptures currently competing to have a place on Vítkov Hill in Žižkov, to be exhibited there for a year.

Aleš Novák *(1979) recently graduated from The Academy of Arts and Architecture & Design, where he presented his diploma work, a series of re-shaped and intentionally deformed figurative sculptures titled Concerning the instability of the heart and God as the ultimate goal. He has presented his works in both group and solo exhibitions in Prague and around Czech Republic, and most recently held a solo show titled Landscape constructions in A.M.180 Gallery.
 
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Open daily 1pm – 8pm
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Contact and more information:
Christina Gigliotti – Curator
christina@meetfactory.cz
+ 420 777 966 117

Petr Hrubeš - PR & Marketing 
petr@meetfactory.cz
+ 420 602 367 552


MeetFactory is supported in 2014 by a grant from the City of Prague amounting to 6.500.000 CZK.