Jiří David
Utopia
Artist
Jiří David
(1956, Rumburk), Czech
Original Title
Utopia
From the seriesGrand Mirrors
Date2016
Mediumphotographs and adhesive on mirror mounted on wood
Dimensions196,5 × 133,5 × 6 cm
Classificationssculpture
Credit LineKunsthalle Praha
DescriptionJiří David is among the most prominent figures of Czech postmodernism. His artistic practice includes various mediums and is defined by a constant oscillation between rational thought and a romanticizing sensitivity. His multilayered, synthetic approach combines influences from art, media, sciences, and social sciences. David‘s unorthodox visual style often experiments with kitsch aesthetics and low-brow genres. He uses his art, as well as his public voice and conduct, to comment on present-day societal conditions and on the question of Czech national identity. He is not afraid to openly voice his opinions, despite potentially being unsettling and provocative, thus incarnating a fundamental tenet of democratic society and seeking to demonstrate the pitfalls of an apolitical society resulting from a defeat of civil rights at the hands of political power and its control and hindrance of individual freedoms. Some of his most important works are his conceptual photographic series from the 1990s and 2000s (Hidden Appearances, Without Compassion, My Hostages, The Fifth Seal), which present multiperspectival explorations of topics such as identity, manipulation, and violence.
Mirroring and optical illusions are essential components of David’s work. Utopia (2016) is part of a series titled Large Mirrors, where David damaged mirrors in various ways, including cutting and shooting, and subsequently attached various objects to their surfaces, creating a mind map of sorts. The word “utopie” (“utopia”) is spelled out by dice in the upper left-hand corner, while the bottom half of the piece is covered with small black glass plates containing various figurative photographs. These are attached to the mirror’s surface using colorless glue, which loosely spills across the surface forming an amorphous map. The work’s components act at once as abstract structures and as specific motifs containing David’s intimate confession regarding his body, aging, and self-reflection.
Jiří David (*1956, Rumburk) studied at the Academy of Fine Arts from 1982 to 1987. During this time, he took part in underground exhibitions titled Konfrontace (1984-1987), which shaped the young generation of postmodernist artists influenced by Western neoexpressionism, the Italian transavantgarde, and the German Neue Wilde. He was a founding member of the art group Tvrdohlaví (The Headstrongs; 1987-2001), which contributed to the wider dissemination of postmodernism within the Czech art scene. Accordingly, in the second half of the 1980s, his work developed toward a postmodernist process based on the use of signs and text. In the 1990s, his practice unrestrictedly incorporated a wide range of mediums. From 1995 to 2002, he headed the Visual Communications Studio at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague, and later, from 2004 to 2020, the Studio of Intermedia Confrontation at the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague. Since the Velvet Revolution, David has been active on the international art scene, beginning with his work being displayed at the Aperto—an event for young artists—at the Venice Biennale in 1991, and the exhibition subsequently showed at the National Gallery Prague (Jiří David: Apotheosis, 2016). His most recent solo exhibitions took place at the Futura Center for Contemporary Art (Closer to the Night, 2018) and the DOX Centre for Contemporary Art (I’m Here, 2020). In 2015, he represented the Czech Republic at the 56th Venice Biennale. His work is held in the collections of numerous institutions such as the National Gallery Prague, the Art Institute of Chicago, the National Portrait Gallery in London, and the Ludwig Museum in Budapest.
Mirroring and optical illusions are essential components of David’s work. Utopia (2016) is part of a series titled Large Mirrors, where David damaged mirrors in various ways, including cutting and shooting, and subsequently attached various objects to their surfaces, creating a mind map of sorts. The word “utopie” (“utopia”) is spelled out by dice in the upper left-hand corner, while the bottom half of the piece is covered with small black glass plates containing various figurative photographs. These are attached to the mirror’s surface using colorless glue, which loosely spills across the surface forming an amorphous map. The work’s components act at once as abstract structures and as specific motifs containing David’s intimate confession regarding his body, aging, and self-reflection.
Jiří David (*1956, Rumburk) studied at the Academy of Fine Arts from 1982 to 1987. During this time, he took part in underground exhibitions titled Konfrontace (1984-1987), which shaped the young generation of postmodernist artists influenced by Western neoexpressionism, the Italian transavantgarde, and the German Neue Wilde. He was a founding member of the art group Tvrdohlaví (The Headstrongs; 1987-2001), which contributed to the wider dissemination of postmodernism within the Czech art scene. Accordingly, in the second half of the 1980s, his work developed toward a postmodernist process based on the use of signs and text. In the 1990s, his practice unrestrictedly incorporated a wide range of mediums. From 1995 to 2002, he headed the Visual Communications Studio at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague, and later, from 2004 to 2020, the Studio of Intermedia Confrontation at the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague. Since the Velvet Revolution, David has been active on the international art scene, beginning with his work being displayed at the Aperto—an event for young artists—at the Venice Biennale in 1991, and the exhibition subsequently showed at the National Gallery Prague (Jiří David: Apotheosis, 2016). His most recent solo exhibitions took place at the Futura Center for Contemporary Art (Closer to the Night, 2018) and the DOX Centre for Contemporary Art (I’m Here, 2020). In 2015, he represented the Czech Republic at the 56th Venice Biennale. His work is held in the collections of numerous institutions such as the National Gallery Prague, the Art Institute of Chicago, the National Portrait Gallery in London, and the Ludwig Museum in Budapest.
Jiří David
