Kryštof Strejc
Lil Dreamer Hoodie
Artist
Kryštof Strejc
(1994, Domažlice), Czech
Original Title
Lil Dreamer Hoodie
Date2017
Mediumcrayon on paper
Dimensions176 × 150 cm
Classificationsdrawings
Credit LineKunsthalle Praha
DescriptionKryštof Strejc is a member of the post-internet generation of artists. He draws inspiration from the complicated contemporary social reality of late capitalism as it grapples with various social, ecological, political, and cultural questions. His works thus represent a personal reflection on the outside world, but also on artistic practice and his own artistic identity. His earlier assemblage works, incorporating fragments of clothing, pushed the formal boundaries of the hanging painting. In his more recent work, Strejc returns to narrational, figurative painting based on layered metaphors and a grotesque irony inscribed in numerous playful details and pop cultural references. Characteristic of these often-sizeable canvases is a contrast of expressive colors with delicate, planar draftsmanship and a return to painterly intuition and spontaneity.
This pastel drawing titled Lil Dreamer Hoodie (2017) explores the relationship between rappers and contemporary fashion brands, which increase their own popularity by helping rappers develop their eccentric styles. The motif of this painting is a hoodie with a print reading “Dreamer”, which rapper Kendrick Lamar wore in the 2017 music video for his track Humble. To Strejc, the subject of the dreamer associated his position as a student dreaming of an art career, which is why this stylized self-portrait depicts him wearing the hoodie. Simultaneously, however, the constrictor snake wrapped around his neck ironically suggests that Strejc sees himself as a much humbler dreamer, far removed from the megalomaniacal world of music stars.
Kryštof Strejc (*1994, Domažlice) studied new media art under Vladimír Merta in the Faculty of Design and Art at the University of Western Bohemia in Pilsen. He then went on to study painting in Jiří Černický’s studio at the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague between 2016 and 2019. In 2018 and 2019, he was named among the finalists of the Critics’ Prize for Young Painting. Strejc’s work is regularly displayed at exhibitions focused on the upcoming generation of Czech artists.
This pastel drawing titled Lil Dreamer Hoodie (2017) explores the relationship between rappers and contemporary fashion brands, which increase their own popularity by helping rappers develop their eccentric styles. The motif of this painting is a hoodie with a print reading “Dreamer”, which rapper Kendrick Lamar wore in the 2017 music video for his track Humble. To Strejc, the subject of the dreamer associated his position as a student dreaming of an art career, which is why this stylized self-portrait depicts him wearing the hoodie. Simultaneously, however, the constrictor snake wrapped around his neck ironically suggests that Strejc sees himself as a much humbler dreamer, far removed from the megalomaniacal world of music stars.
Kryštof Strejc (*1994, Domažlice) studied new media art under Vladimír Merta in the Faculty of Design and Art at the University of Western Bohemia in Pilsen. He then went on to study painting in Jiří Černický’s studio at the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague between 2016 and 2019. In 2018 and 2019, he was named among the finalists of the Critics’ Prize for Young Painting. Strejc’s work is regularly displayed at exhibitions focused on the upcoming generation of Czech artists.
