Jiří David
Icons 6
Artist
Jiří David
(1956, Rumburk), Czech
Original Title
Icons 6
From the seriesSober-Minded
Date2003
Mediumacrylic and oil on canvas
Dimensions162 × 162 cm
Classificationspaintings
Credit LineKunsthalle Praha (Eva and Petr Zeman Collection)
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.
Icons 6 (2003) is part of a larger series of paintings titled Sober-Minded, composed of smaller series titled Zones, Icons, Transmissions, and Sequences. The title of this extensive series of abstract paintings is intentionally cryptic and ambiguous. On the one hand, it refers to the psychedelic 1960s; on the other hand, it relates to the more tempered visual aesthetics of the present day. David’s fusion of these two approaches resulted in surprisingly manic, hypnotic paintings. These abstract compositions were created based on digital sketches, which were subsequently translated onto the canvas by David and his assistants. The aim of this process was an elimination of the artist’s subjective input. The painting technique is generally so precise and detailed that, at first glance, it appears to be a computer graphic or a print. In some areas, however, the brush strokes are more pronounced, drawing the viewer back into the reality of painting as a medium. These illusionary spatial compositions are inspired by certain real-world motifs, particularly organic lines and spirals, which are tied together by the painting’s central motif of a sphere with an icy, chromatic gleam. Thus, the viewer gets to witness a peculiar parallel world which is analogous with nature and evokes a futuristic vision of the future.
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.
Icons 6 (2003) is part of a larger series of paintings titled Sober-Minded, composed of smaller series titled Zones, Icons, Transmissions, and Sequences. The title of this extensive series of abstract paintings is intentionally cryptic and ambiguous. On the one hand, it refers to the psychedelic 1960s; on the other hand, it relates to the more tempered visual aesthetics of the present day. David’s fusion of these two approaches resulted in surprisingly manic, hypnotic paintings. These abstract compositions were created based on digital sketches, which were subsequently translated onto the canvas by David and his assistants. The aim of this process was an elimination of the artist’s subjective input. The painting technique is generally so precise and detailed that, at first glance, it appears to be a computer graphic or a print. In some areas, however, the brush strokes are more pronounced, drawing the viewer back into the reality of painting as a medium. These illusionary spatial compositions are inspired by certain real-world motifs, particularly organic lines and spirals, which are tied together by the painting’s central motif of a sphere with an icy, chromatic gleam. Thus, the viewer gets to witness a peculiar parallel world which is analogous with nature and evokes a futuristic vision of the future.
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
