Jaromír Novotný / As seen in their natural environment

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

Jaromír Novotný / As seen in their natural environment

23.10.2024 - 20.12.2024

Fait Gallery MEM, Ve Vaňkovce 2, Brno

Curators: Denisa Bytelová and Sráč Sam

Opening: 23rd October, 7 pm

Rest and movement are relative states. They have their own meaning, incomprehensible and invisible to the viewer, and so we attempt all the more to relate to a mystical interpretation of Jaromír’s work. The initial moment is alluring and entices us to follow it, to develop our reflections on spiritual urgency, but let us pause and pay attention to his uncommon organization, which aims to neither teach us nor force a sense of order upon us. Jaromír inflicts irreparable damage on his paintings. He recognizes his domain and, with a thorough knowledge of the material, decides on its future. This time, he remains intrinsically bound to both aforementioned factors. Rest and movement.

From this perspective, all that is physical is free. Nevertheless, the question raised by the sight of the attached, sewn-on, and sometimes scarred parts of the painting, a question we must inevitably address, is this: As we gaze at the fixed, needle-pierced canvas, how long can we keep from thinking of injuries and how much attention does our automatic mind pay to the idea of abandoning well-trodden paths? For our mind flows; it does not wait for permission but draws on personal experience.

JaromírNovotný merely records this fact without letting himself be unsettled by it. Any slight irritation is allowed to thoroughly dissolve in waiting. He proceeds according to his acquired awareness. Everything plays out with precision, through concentrated work – not, however, as an effort with an expected outcome, but rather by adopting his own physical and spiritual trajectories. He permits himself to exist in a limited, self-determining space. In this way, he becomes inseparable from thinking about contemporary art. His belonging is not established by acceptance. Perhaps things are irreversible and fluid, but for a certain amount of time we can still use specific actions to halt the dependence of temporal forms. In the case of Novotný’s paintings, our dependence on the physical material – from which we turn away even as we cling to it – tries to guide us past ourselves toward precise thinking. To guide us toward a slow reading inclined to performance. Epic dramas must be allowed to fall silent so that our cyclical thinking can achieve the same amazement from a painting.

How little yellow is still acceptable? When is a blue thread understood as an object, and at what distance do we begin to feel unsure whether we are looking through gessoed transparent polyester at a painting’s innards? On the one hand we have the processes of entropic change, and against this inevitability we can experience the painting’s subject, processed and managed in such a way as to show us only ourselves. By its rigid visual representation, it steers us toward the perception of movement as time, toward a number of personified changes resulting from interactions with our immediate surroundings. In a painting, everything that until a certain moment showed no signs of significance moves toward the greatest possible emphasis. The outward power of the ordinary is removed and incorporated into the painting. The sequence of changes shows us where the past lies. We want to and are drawn to Jaromír’s paintings precisely because of the unexpected contradiction of things, a contradiction that brings with it the possibility of revisiting our initial reflections on time and routine. It invites us to reevaluate our biases. Through conscious deliberation and waiting, it performs much visible work.

It is generally assumed that exhibitions allow for a greater control of reflections, but the very decision to engage in such considerations is more a profligate waste of thoughts than frugal moderation. Nothing is simple this time, for we will have to abandon the habit of anticipated events.

Sráč Sam

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