1 April 2018

‘Trump versus Godzilla’ by Jiří Černický at DSC Gallery

Jiří Černický, Trump versus Godzilla, exhibition view
‘Trump versus Godzilla’ by Jiří Černický at DSC Gallery
Jiří Černický, Trump versus Godzilla, exhibition view

His exhibition Wild Dreams at Gallery Rudolfinum was an event. Now, Jiří Černický returns to DSC Gallery with material that responds to current events. The exhibition Trump kontra Godzilla will open on Thursday 15/3 and will be on view until 19/4.

The whole exhibition is conceived as a presentation of several seemingly inconsistent series of paintings, paintings which are intertwined with various visible and invisible links. That is why the statement „the grasshopper jumps from plate to label“ is used in the subtitle of the exhibition. Its diversity is caused by Černický’s attempt to explore the possibilites of painting and beyond this media.

Jiří Černický, Trump versus Godzilla, exhibition view
Jiří Černický, Trump versus Godzilla, exhibition view
Jiří Černický, Trump versus Godzilla, exhibition view
Jiří Černický, Trump versus Godzilla, exhibition view
Jiří Černický, Trump versus Godzilla, exhibition view
Jiří Černický, Trump versus Godzilla, exhibition view

All the paintings seem to be just pieces of a construction. For example, the paintings that evoke a sci-fi aesthetic have “appendices” on their sides that point to neighboring paintings. “Also, the visual appearance of the parts themselves may resemble a panel of a controller, a keyboard or a joystick that acts on its surroundings,” explains Černický his vision, where the material is worth seeing in real and thoroughly exploring. “Another strategy works on a panel theme that implies the possibility of endless reproduction. The surface of each panel is covered with seemingly chaotic, superimposed, blank, minimalist plaques that form a background or echo of movable assemblages. These kinetic plates are the concentrated noise of the whole panel with an echo in the background,” Černický describes another number of works on view at DSC Gallery and adds that the plates are “on another hand also image inflated, energetic cores, transmitting to their surroundings, some sort of pixel waves (vibrations), which likewise link from painting to painting.”

Jiří Černický, Trump versus Godzilla, exhibition view
Jiří Černický, Trump versus Godzilla, exhibition view
Jiří Černický, Trump versus Godzilla, exhibition view
Jiří Černický, Trump versus Godzilla, exhibition view

“This is already Jiří Černický’s third solo exhibition in our gallery. During his exhibitions the gallery always transforms into a place from another planet. I would compare it to some kind of spacecraft landing in Prague.” says Petr Šec, founding partner of DSC Gallery, who also adds, that what sounds complicated on paper, in reality, forms very specific contours. Černický’s formal experiments are full of references, that are brutally prevalent. In what sense, best suggests the title of the exhibition itself: Trump versus Godzilla. Jiří Černický is able to attract the exact mix of amusement and chills within visitors, which can be said of one of the most successful and most remarkable Czech contemporary artists.

Imprint

ArtistJiří Černický
Place / venueDSC Gallery, Prague
DatesMarch 15 – April 19, 2018
Websitedscgallery.com/en
Index

See also