Veronika Vlková / Daddy_rough_and _reduced_final_ok

The first of two overview exhibitions assesses the collecting activities of the Fait Gallery, initiated by Igor Fait and systematically developed since 2012 in synergy with the chief curator Denisa Kujelová, who worked in the gallery until mid-2025.

Given the extensive nature of the collection which comprises over 1,000 items, and considering the multiple artistic approaches and the time span covered by the collection, which ranges from the pre-war avant-garde to contemporary art, it appeared natural to organise two consecutive shows.

In order to maintain a certain homogeneity in the exhibition, it was necessary to find a simple and universal key for selecting the artists and individual works. In most cases, this took the form of an abstract geometric-constructivist tendency which, with a few exceptions, involved pure minimalism, while in other cases it was softer abstraction with connotations of a reality-inspired starting point.

Part of the exhibition is devoted to the presentation of pre-war modernism, making up the core of the collection from the very beginning. It is the cubist tendency, evident in the works of Emil Filla and the more frequently represented Antonín Procházka, that forms a link with the mentioned geometric-abstract tendency which in many cases takes on a mathematical character in the works of artists active in the second half of the 20th century.

In connection with cubism, it is also necessary to mention that the exhibition includes several works related more to contemporary art which can be described as explicitly figurative, mediating a kind of neo-cubism and thus making an exception from the rule within the exhibition concept.

A confrontational aspect is supplied by the younger generation of artists fluidly incorporated into the exhibition. They function as a subtle refreshing and at the same time convey the message that the recycling of basic forms defined in the first half of the 20th century is still relevant, even though the artists' starting points are now quite different.

From the media perspective, the exhibition provides an overview of the segment of the collection that exclusively addresses traditional art forms such as painting, drawing, graphic art, objects, sculpture, assemblage, and various types of collage.

The overall aim of the exhibition is to present the part of the collection relating to the mentioned trends, to define and demonstrate formal and content-unifying elements among artists across the given time scope, and to set them in a mutual context.

Ondřej Kotrč

Veronika Vlková / Daddy_rough_and _reduced_final_ok

19.10.2022 - 14.01.2023

Fait Gallery MEM, Ve Vaňkovce 2, Brno

Curator: Marie Štindlová

Opening: 19 October 2022, 7 pm

Mother and son are travelling on foot to Vienna. On the way they cook, wash, look, show each other things. Sometimes it's difficult, their hands are of stone. The steps are verses and the march is a prayer for healthy relationships. Without losing their humour, they are trying to shake off the layers of patriarchal sediment settled on their arms, hearts, family and landscape.

The title of the exhibition Daddy_rough_and_reduced_final_ok refers in its form and structure to the names of documents stored in the digital environment in a number of variants (rough/final, reduced/hd etc.). Video is therefore the central element of the exhibition. The thematization of the medium and its structure (its disruption) is reflected in the way the artist approaches it. She works with ruptures and distortions which she uses to create similar cracks in stereotypical notions of clearly defined gender roles. She explores them both gently and with a mischievous smile. At the same time, however, she looks with utter seriousness for ways of how to heal patriarchy and masculinity in our time.

The film shows the artist and her teenage son navigating a landscape associated with a family and historical trauma. By experiencing the landscape together and performing certain activities, they seek to heal it, as well as themselves. They encode a desire for renewal and transformation into ordinary gestures of survival and care. The process is complicated by the stone structures embedded in their bodies which make quick movements, fine motoric skills and mutual touching impossible. The pilgrims are hoping that with every kilometre they will leave behind a past that may no longer be part of them, that the stones on their hands will turn to clay and water and they will be able to knead them into different shapes: soft, pliable, yet firm.

Cooking their favourite food, mother and son feed the surrounding gorges. Flowers are guides, together with the son they tell the story of the search for his role. The stream bubbles up and washes away everything unnecessary.

Acknowledgement / Collaboration:

Photography: Maria Lopatyuk, Matěj Nytra, Katarina Kadijević

Sound: Jonatan Pastirčák, Tomáš Dvořák, Kateřina Koutná

Costumes: Kristýna Nytrová

Exhibition design: Martin Nytra

Kanikuly march: Lucie Králíková, Hana Kubešová