86 5/8 x 66 7/8 in
Five years after his large solo exhibition at the Prague City Gallery, Josef Žáček brings his new series of paintings to Bold Gallery. Titled Surrogate, it presents a selection of his latest works which offer an examination of the human body, free of compassion and sentiment.
The main theme of the new exhibition of the painter of dark forms Josef Žáček (b. 1951) is the body perceived as an organic machinery free of compassion and sentiment. In doing so, he has deliberately chosen a technicist vision, so images are sometimes reminiscent of negatives, x-rays, or ultrasound screening images. This emphasizes their analytical aspect and his works can be seen as a diagnosis of reality. Žáček is primarily an observer who tries to avoid emotions, but the body is still not relieved of its physicality. It has symbolic potential and is interconnected with a somewhat unplanned, slightly cool eroticism. Although these paintings from the last five years are not directly related to pandemic experience, their visuality has been spontaneously updated by current events, giving them an added dimension.
Radek Wohlmuth
curator