Václav Magid: Bay and Grotto

An opening of the exhibition on Tuesday, May 22, 2018, from 6 p. m.
The exhibition until June 16, 2018

curator: Lenka Sýkorová
photo: Markéta Magidová

Accompanying program on Saturday, June 16, 2018, 2:00 – 4:00 pm – animation workshop for children, 4:00 – 5:00 pm – commented viewing of the exhibition and the exhibition activity of Klamovka Pavilion.

Václav Magid’s artwork balances on the edge of artistic practice with a strong theoretical and curatorial point of view. These two aspects also stem from his education. Magid studied at the Academy of Fine Arts (prof. Zdeněk Beran’s studio and prof. Jiří David’s studio) and at the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design (prof. K. Gebauer’s studio and prof. Jiří David’s studio). However, he completed his studies at the Faculty of Humanities of Charles University in Prague and at the Faculty of Philosophy of Charles University in Prague where he is currently enrolled in the Ph.D. program. For many years he has worked as an assistant lecturer at the Department of Theoretic Studies and History of Art at the Faculty of Fine Arts of the Brno University of Technology and as a scientist at the AVU Research Center in Prague. He is an established artist and in 2010 and 2013 was a finalist of the Jindřich Chalupecký Award.

Because of his theoretical activity and his artwork that is based on drawing and painting techniques reflecting post-conceptual methods, he was asked to make an exhibition in the Altán Klamovka Gallery. His artwork typically examines the limits of fine arts on the background of aesthetical experiences. His new series of drawings for the exhibition “Bay and Grotto” combines drawings with other sign systems. In the gallery bay, the artist works with an allusion to the aesthetics of grottos that were to provide visitors past and present with a strong aesthetic experience. This phenomenon of artificial grottos was typical for Renaissance and Baroque gardens and was also very popular during the Romantic era. Right next to the neo-Renaissance Altán Klamovka Gallery, built around the year 1820, there is an older Night Temple that is romanticizing and includes a grotto. The surroundings of the Altán Klamovka Gallery are closely connected with the history of the 19th century and the Glam-Gallas family that created an illusion of a Romantic English-style garden in today’s park. This was also an era of landscape painters wandering around the countryside and looking for new aesthetically perfect horizons. Václav Magid added to his artwork for the Altán Klamovka Gallery a series of drawings showing people watching scenic horizons. The series of drawings of wanderers can also be considered a philosophical essay without unclear visual concretizations.

Lenka Sýkorová