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.
Filip Dvořák / The Ravine – The Room
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Fait Gallery PREVIEW, Ve Vaňkovce 2, Brno
Curator: Michal Stolárik
Opening: February 22, 2023
The hole that wasn't there and now it is.
Filip Dvořák is a member of the young generation of Czech visual artists and his multimedia work naturally moves from the expanded character of painting and easel paintings through objects and installations to work with video and text. The fluid handwriting of his works stems from the wide scope of the artist's inspiration - Dvořák is fascinated by history, historical ornaments, nature and natural phenomena, speculative fictions and materials with their symbolic meanings. In his post-conceptual thinking we observe a deliberate form reduction and purity of craftsmanship in contrast to a strong emotional charge with a tendency towards a melancholic spectrum of feelings of transience, hope and expectation. He works in cycles, varying forms and motifs, searching for ideal versions and compositions.
The world is a ravine and the ravine is a world.
The solo exhibition The Ravine - The Room is a follow-up to Dvořák's Strž [Ravine] series with which he has been developing a short story of the same title since 2020. In this concise text, he describes the reality of a community living in a ravine that was created after an unexpected landslide. The hopes and aspirations of the inhabitants living in a confined space focus on the longed-for moment when the tree they look after together grows to such a height that they will be able to leave their home ravine and experience the reality of the world "up there". Like any heterogeneous community, they do not agree on everything. Attempts at dialogue are impossible in places, and views of the world obviously differ.
Dvořák's fiction abounds in symbolism, faith and hope, patience and expectation. The Ravine fable is a simple and easy-to-understand fantasy whose strength, impact and imagery lie in the reduction of the content, repetitions and historicizing lyricism. It is fully comprehensible in the textual version, yet it is the imaginative and fictional artefacts that create a deceptive sense of the existence of a parallel reality.
But there must be something there, surely.
There must be more.
The exhibition presentations of the imaginary world (Strž, 2020, Luxfer Gallery, Česká Skalice; Ravine Culture, 2021, Berlínskej model, Prague; Ve strži a jiné příběhy, 2022, GAVU, Cheb) are typified by an eclectic form through which Dvořák communicates the idea that the works have been produced by different artists. Past exhibition units consisted of traditionally rendered landscape paintings with romanticized views of a ravine, or objects and paintings depicting a tree as a symbol of growing hope. The handwriting of the works varied but they shared an interest in the reality of a different world.
In the current exhibition environment, Dvořák changes focus from macro to micro and centres, among other things, on fragments from one room of an unknown protagonist. Most of them are hanging objects - manipulated wooden tiles with hammered copper details. The individual parts of the Ravine are introduced by fictitious ready-mades and museum reconstructions of once presumably functional objects. The original form eclecticism becomes homogenized, referring at first glance to familiar historicizing forms and signs. We witness the gradual abandoning of ornament in favour of rigid geometry and quadratic patterns, elements of modernist architecture and design - somewhere between Josef Hoffmann, Charles Rennie Mackintosh and art nouveau. In combination with futuristic and at times dystopian speculation, the aesthetics of old museums or pseudo-educational elements, Dvořák explains the details and further develops the existence of the ravine community.
But maybe next spring, maybe next year
the branches will reach so close to the upper edge
that it will only take one small leap.
