Curatorial Text / Kostka Gallery /VÁCLAV LITVAN: STANDING, LYING
KOSTKA GALLERY
presents the
exhibition
VÁCLAV LITVAN: STANDING, LYING
3. 7. – 31. 7. 2014
curator:
Karina Pfeiffer Kottová
Initially the work of Václav Litvan appears as purely
sculptural, respecting the matter as well as traditional skills. However, another
key element is its playfulness and hyperbole, creating a tension between both
the material and metaphorical weight of their form and the lightness and fine
nature of the questions these generous realizations evoke. The installation
made for Kostka Gallery is inspired by the performative potential of sculpture
and the possibilities of motion in a naturally static object.
“Possibly everyone has moved a heavy wardrobe
once, and therefore s/he understands, that the wings drawn on top of an object
made from its parts only pretend their flight,” notes the artist when
speaking about one of his works. A central piece is an installation resembling
a merry-go-round. However, it won’t move a single inch either. The viewer is
forced to move instead, to walk around, slip under or climb over parts of the
sculptures. Perhaps this aspect is what brings them alive in the end: similarly
to perceiving the landscape, as it was in motion, while the train we sit in
seems static.
At the
same time, Václav Litvan sensitively works with the lines of forces of the
monumental gallery space. Despite the high ceiling, the installation sticks to
the ground, playing with the prone and standing position, with the horizontal
and vertical lines. This emphasizes the empty space above the physical objects,
as well as their own longing to take off, change direction, and turn their line
of thought upside down. The gravity is relativized; none of the solutions are definite
or binding.
As
a whole, the installation reaches beyond the game of mathematical and energetic
principles. Each object has its own character, although the faces of escaping
boys depicted on a large-scale relief are hidden to us and the artist tore down
a portrait initially modelled on an object resembling an enlarged coin, in
order to allow the viewers to project their own images into the void. A statue
of a gorilla is inspired by an amusement park attraction, but in Litvan’s
installation, it reaches out from the center of the merry-go-round. In a
horizontal position, it evokes a victim of human callousness, in the vertical
position it proudly demonstrates its own triumph - that goes for everything.
The horizontal line can represent the realm of a dream or even death, while the
vertical is a symbol of life, heading towards higher goals or better tomorrows.
The horizontal stands for a landscape, the vertical is the air. However,
sometimes the air sticks too close to the ground and the cliffs rise towards
the sky. One becomes the other. Standing, lying, awakening, sleeping...
--
Václav Litvan (1983, CZ)graduated from the
Jiří Příhoda Studio at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague in 2009. He has
presented his work in several solo exhibitions, mostly in independent galleries
around the Czech Republic (for example Galerie Jelení, Prague, Galerie Půda,
Jihlava, Galerie NF, Ústí nad Labem), but also at group shows in both Czech and
international institutions. In 2012 Litvan was an artist in residence at the
Milan-based organization Viafarini, and in 2006 he received the Bohdan Naiden
Award. Litvan works with objects, installations, photography and performance.
In his demanding realizations, the legacy of modernist forms meets with a
contemporary and distinctive approach from the artist.
Contact and more information:
Karina Pfeiffer Kottová - Curator
karina@meetfactory.cz
+ 420 732 464 434
Christina Gigliotti - PR and Marketing
christina@meetfactory.cz
+ 420 776 798 202
MeetFactory
is supported in 2014 by a grant from the City of Prague amounting to 6.500.000
CZK.