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About the gallery
We are opening the Art brut Prague Gallery as the first exhibition space in Prague focused exclusively on the work of artists who, for various reasons, are unable or unwilling to join the mainstream art scene.
“Here, things are raised proudly
and more stabbingly,
the world is full of edges
on which we have
hurt ourselves many times.”
The quote, taken from Josef Čapek’s groundbreaking book The Most Modest Art, will greet all visitors at the entrance as a foreshadowing of the type of work they will encounter here.
To clearly define the gallery, the name was chosen after the painter Jean Dubuffet’s famous term art brut – usually translated in Czech as “art in its raw state”.
But not all the artists the gallery will represent necessarily fall into the category of art brut as it is usually conceived. Some of them, for various reasons, become outsiders, not even classifiable in this field.
The selection of the artists is basically conditioned by the absence of any conscious calculation in their work aimed at achieving success in the world of contemporary art.
The gallery also wants to support its artists by making their works available for sale.
Exhibitions
Vojtěch Šůra
Secret Entrances
Tajné vchody
7. 11.–30. 11. 2024
Curator of the exhibition: Terezie Zemánková
Special thanks to Tomáš Pašek
Vojtěch Šůra (b. 1983) was born with a combined disability that presents significant challenges, but also grants him extraordinary mathematical and artistic talents. Since the age of eighteen, he has lived and worked at the Harcov Home for People with Intellectual Disabilities in Liberec, where he has developed a unique and expressive creative style in collaboration with his assistant and friend, painter Tomáš Pašek.
Vojtěch approaches his artwork with uninhibited freedom, seamlessly blending ink, pencil, crayon, and chalk with watercolors and tempera. His choice of subjects is equally spontaneous, shifting from animals to portraits of his fellow workshop participants, or even the director of the Home. However, more often than not, the central figure in his work is Vojtěch himself—depicted swimming, diving, skiing, kayaking, or cycling.
His drawings unfold like the panels of a comic book, weaving together real-life experiences and imagined stories. In this way, he has crafted a distinctive visual “encyclopedia” of his daily life, offering a rich and personal narrative that transcends traditional artistic boundaries.
Figures and objects, simplified into striking pictograms with bold artistic brevity, are ensnared within intricate structures that resemble cages or labyrinths, often featuring hidden entrances. Yet, as the creative process unfolds, the original scene gradually disappears beneath layer after layer of lines, until it is consumed entirely by an impenetrable thicket—unless Tomáš intervenes in time, toppling it all.
“Vojta is like a ‘rock star,’ and I’m the one who ‘pulls his strings.’ I sharpen his pencils, try to maintain the rhythm, archive, dust, and, most importantly, I redirect his impulsive drive to destroy his drawings by drawing,” explains Tomáš, describing the unique dynamic of their collaboration.
The exhibition at the Art brut Praha Gallery marks the first public presentation of Vojtěch Šůra’s work in the Czech Republic. However, as a “new discovery” within Czech art brut, his work has already been showcased internationally, including at the 2020 International Exhibition of Artists with Disabilities in Seoul, South Korea, and in 2022 and 2023 at group exhibitions of Czech art brut at the Czech Centres in Paris and New York.
About the authors
The main circle of authors is formed by the persons who create in the Studio of Joyful Creation at Letná: Dagmar Filípková, Šárka Hojaková, Dominik Jirsa, Jarmila Jandová, Marie Kohoutková, Václav Kuklík, Marie Kůsová, Lorenzo, Karel Pajma, Lukáš Paleček, Vojtěch Proske, George Radojčič, Iveta Riminka Filí, Ladislav Svoboda will be presented here.
However, internationally known names such as Anna Zemánková or Zdeněk Košek will also be represented. Other authors who have already gained attention include Hana Fousková, La Inthonkaew, Ota Prouza, Helena Skalická and Tomáš Krupka.
Practical information
The gallery will be open five afternoons a week, Tuesday to Saturday 2 – 7pm.
www.artbrutpraha.cz
artbrut.praha@gmail.com
+420 606 028 942 (during opening hours)
+420 602 646 665 (out of hours)
Postal address: Galerie Art brut Praha, Resslova 300/6,
120 00 Praha 2 – Nové Město.
About the place and the founder
The gallery acquired its space after the renovation of a long unused technical building at St. Wenceslas Church in Zderaz.
The operator is the Altán Art association, which has so far been active mainly in Letná: in 2013 it opened the Studio of Joyful Creation here as the first Czech studio providing facilities for artists falling into the category of art brut, and in 2017 it opened up also to the wider public by establishing the ART Cultural and Community Centre, where senior citizens and people with disabilities develop their artistic interests together. Vladimír Drábek is the main representative of the association. More information on the website www.altanart.cz .
Curator
Jaromír Typlt (1973) is a poet, performer and essayist. During 2000-2010 he worked in Liberec as a curator of photography and contemporary art exhibitions at the Small Exhibition Hall and then at the U Rytíře Gallery. Since the end of the 1990s he has also helped to promote the work of overlooked authors, publishing the first book on Zdeněk Košek (2001), literary texts by Hana Fousková, František Novák and many others. In 2018, he started cooperation with the association Altán Art. He has long focused on the topic of “écrits bruts” – written expressions in art brut.
Gallery partners
Studio of Joyful Creation at Letná
Czechoslovak Hussite Church in Prague 2 – New Town
Graphic studio chapter
abcd praha
Media partners
Analogon
Revolver Revue
Souvislosti
I am convinced that a considerable circle of artists, those interested in art brut and the
Pavel Konečný, art brut collector
professional public can form around the Art Brut Prague gallery in a very short time. The
project is a positive response not only to initiatives stemming from the vibrant undercurrent of
our spontaneous creativity, but also responds to calls from foreign cultural institutions to
strengthen the voice of outsider art, including by improving intercultural cooperation and
dialogue across European borders.