SELECTION FROM THE FAIT GALLERY COLLECTION II

25.02.2026 - 02.05.2026

Fait Gallery, Ve Vaňkovce 2, Brno

Exhibition concept: Ondřej Kotrč

Opening: 25th February, 6 pm

 

While loosely following in the wake of the previous exhibition, the second part of this overview of the Fait Gallery collection represents, in a certain sense, its opposite. In contrast to the previous instalment, which primarily represented abstract art from the second half of the 20th century, with a focus on geometry and structure, Czech modernism and its resonance and evident influences in contemporary Czech painting, this exhibition directs its attention towards art that places greater emphasis on depicting the real world. Contradicting the artists working in the spirit of geometric abstraction, presenting more universal subject matter, these works are inspired by reality, depicting it more or less explicitly while bringing to the forefront an appreciation of the human figure and its depiction.

It is precisely this fascination with the human body and physicality, manifested either directly or metaphorically through fragments, tools, and situations inextricably intertwined with it, that forms the framework of the exhibition. As such, the exhibition features a number of works reflecting themes such as sport, while at the same time exploring a certain existential decadence as well as aspects of humour within the context of this fascination with the human condition.

Chronologically, we loosely move on to works created predominantly after the year 2000, which is also evidenced by the wider representation of the medium of installation, an example of which is the large-scale work Deep in Enemy Territory by the Rafani Group, one of the group's most extensive projects. The installation fulfils an integral part of the exhibition and, as was already mentioned, comments on a complex psychological situation through the relationship between visual art and the symbolism of sport.

The exhibition follows a predefined selective framework, yet it does not aspire to present an indisputable message regarding a specific issue or topic, a fact that is understandable given its nature. It does, however, seek to showcase the fruits of Fait Gallery and Igor Fait's extensive collecting activities over the past 15 years, to present a series of high-quality works by both Czech and foreign artists, to allow them to come into their own in their individuality and, at the same time, to present the sphere in which these individualities coexist and support each other within a compact whole.

Ondřej Kotrč

Represented artists:

Vasil Artamonov & Alexej Klyuykov, Alžběta Bačíková, Ondřej Basjuk, Nina Beier, Marie Blabolilová, Josef Bolf, Radek Brousil, Jan Brož, Michel Comte, Milena Dopitová, Markéta Filipová, Jiří Franta & David Böhm, Jan Gemrot, Martin Gerboc, Michal Gogora, Damien Hirst, Katarína Hládeková & Ondřej Homola, Katarína Hládeková & Jiří Kovanda, Jakub Hošek, František Hudeček, Matyáš Chochola, Krištof Kintera, Eva Kmentová, Vendula Knopová, Vladimír Kokolia, Jiří Kolář, Eva Koťátková, Ondřej Kotrč, Alena Kotzmannová, Denisa Krausová, Nika Kupyrova, Alicja Kwade, Martin Lukáč, Kamila Maliňáková, Pavla Malinová, Pavel Matyska, Marek Meduna, Jan Merta, Svätopluk Mikyta, Kamila Musilová, Jan Nálevka & Václav Stratil, Pavla Naďová, Petr Nikl, Michal Pěchouček, Ivan Pinkava, Jan Poupě, Skupina Rafani, Tomáš Roubal, Lucia Sceranková, Pavla Sceranková, František Skála, Matěj Smetana, Václav Stratil, Tomáš Svoboda, Robert Šalanda, Adriena Šimotová, Jiří Topínka, Lubomír Typlt, unconductive trash, Kateřina Vincourová, Lenka Vítková

The exhibition Selection from the Fait Gallery Collection II is a sales exhibition and is the last exhibition of Fait Gallery in its current space at Ve Vaňkovce 2.

 

 



Václav Stratil / Landscapes

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Fait Gallery 
Ve Vaňkovce 2, Brno
21. 9. - 19. 11. 2016
Vernissage: 21. 9. 2016 at 7pm
Curator: Jiří Ptáček
 
The further extended continuation of Stratil’s exhibition Landscapes shows the next chapters in the life work of the Brno painter, illustrator and performer in relation to his friends, colleagues and students. Besides the older and often legendary works (legendary because they are brought to the younger generation by the memories of the older generation) we also introduce the artist's current work with photos and text. The main theme of the exhibition Landscapes, however, is the relationship to others and showing yourself in "analog" social networking and communication.

Resumption of the second, further extended completed version of Stratil’s exhibition will, in addition, become an opportunity to release the author’s new music album "Láška" (translation note: play on words, seems to be pointing to the word ‘Love’), which was created with the contribution of the Fait Gallery. "The album „Láška“ with old as well as new songs is the second set of Stratil’s musical production.
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"It was not just a repetition of the act of usurping of the classic works and reproducing them under his own name, because objectively and for Stratil's also subjectively it could have worked just with Boštík with all aspects that this exact option has, starting with the fact that Stratil is Boštík‘s younger friend, who really loves him, despite the fact that just Boštík’s works really have the spiritual quality that makes them something extraordinary, to the the fact that Boštík is now primarily a subject of a market and a victim of our fast newly rich."1 A passage from a text by Jiří Valoch, written a year after Stratil exhibited photographic enlargements of black and white reproductions of paintings by Václav Boštík2, seems to be an appropriate introduction to the topic of the exhibition Landscapes. On the one hand Valoch mentiones basic statements that led to its organisation, but using specific examples it points out the layers of meaning, which in our case, are specifically because of the chosen concept, suppressed. The semantic and contextual diversity of Stratil‘s works here is suppressed by the conceptual key of the exhibition, which is observing the artist's creative approach to other people and their work.
 
Should the key fulfil its purpose, it is necessary for it to unlock the room, or at least the door of the house. At the exhibition, where we, next to Boštík‘s reproductions, present a photo album from the second half of the nineties, in which Stratil handled the personal and family history in different ways, or album created by his father and exhibited by the artist as ready-made, but also for example the "mutual monochromes" with Jan Nálevka from the end of the same decade or recent, partner-painted paintings with Martin Helán, however, we can still trace Stratil’s continuous interest in "authorial connection". Provided Jiří Valoch in his text says that the usurpation could work just with Boštík,3 he covers the aspects of intimacy and intensity that Stratil is attracted to in the long term. If we mention, for example, "stealing" of the principle of symmetrical portraits from the photo collection by Jiří David Hidden forms (1991-1995) and their use for self-portraits (1998)4, or the colouring in of his father's teaching tables (Latin, 2009), a strong personal relationship was always a fundamental dimension which preceded the creation of such works. The variable in this direction was (and remains) only the level of articulation of the relationship and of course the role of collective work, citation or appropriation in the context of contemporary theoretical debates. Should his works, in the nineties, be seen as a commentary on the identity of the image and the importance of authorship, or as movements in quadrature proximity-distance-originality-non originality, ie within the intellectual horizons of this phase of Czech post-modernism, with the transition into the new millennium there has been increasingly promoted the perspective of personal involvement.
 
Stratil‘s motive may be based on the relation to another person, but also on a specific artistic collection or an individual art piece. It can not be strange to him, it must catch him, he must be interested, or at least be irritatred. "The combination of modernism and postmodernism," thus happens somehow unusually - as calling the personal commitment and intimacy back into the spotlight.
 
The title of this exhibition is derived from a photo collection Czech landscape (1998-1999)5. That was arranged by Stratil as a map of his professional partners and friends. If these photos appear alongside other series, such as photographic Couples (2002-2003 and 2015-2016), we want to emphasise this very level of personal maps. The thoroughness and persistence of drawing through out is the first aspect that does not have a competition in the Czech art scene. The second and even more important aspect for us, is the increasing need for an intense relationship. Without wanting to prefer its psychological interpretation, we need to realise that we see Stratil as a solitaire focused mainly on the investigation of himself. The exhibition Landscapes does not deny this dimension of his artistic work, but reminds us of the importance of establishing a relationship and its public manifestation of a coherent and distinct line within his work. I would not be surprised, however, if you would have, besides intellectual game, passion, humor or pathos, also noticed loneliness that fatally follows those who so strongly urge for the other person.


1. Valoch, Jiří: The art combining modernism and postmodernism. In: Daněk, Ladislav (ed.): Václav Stratil / Drawings 1955-2000. Olomouc Art Museum, Olomouc 2000, pp. 65.

2. Václav Stratil. Collective exhibition, Nová síň Gallery, Prague 1997.

3. Also important was the resemblance of the enlarged reproductions of Boštík’s pictures with Stratil’s ink cross-hatching drawings from the second half of the 80s.

4. Václav Stratil. Hidden forms. Behémót Gallery, Prague, 1998.

5. In the enlargements of the publicly presented one only once so far – at the exhibition with the same name in Malá galerie Galerie Rudolfinum in Prague (1999).

T: Jiří Ptáček

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