Darker than Black
The exhibition DARKER THAN BLACK at SODA Gallery presents a selection of nine authors and one artistic collective, in whose work black appears more or less regularly. The selected artworks also reflect various ways and strategies how artists use and perceive the black colour in contemporary art practice.Black as a significant linear track carrying an expressive element is the basis of works by the Czech artistic collective Jiří Franta and David Böhm. Their art practice focused on drawing reflects a highly specific perception of this medium. In their perception drawing often emancipates from two-dimensional pictorial space, mingles with other media, becomes a performance or an ephemeral and transitory installation. On the other hand, in a series of large-format drawings entitled Artwork, a Slovak artist Martin Špirec handles this medium as painting and achieves inconceivable spatial tone of picture compositions.Artists like Josef Bolf /CZ/, András Cséfalvay, Lucia Dovičáková, Boris Sirka, Jan Vytiska are inspired by the traditional iconography and symbolism associated with this colour, but they combine it with other subjects such as folklorism, occultism, superstitions, subtle demonization of female perception of the world and the role of women, thematization of fear and anxiety bringing to the fore new narratives and a new repertoire of themes with a strong existential and emotional colouring. Many of these artists use comics stylization entangled with feelings of sadness, hopelessness, a certain vulnerability and nostalgia. Their works are full of melancholy, but on the other hand they reflect a neurotic vision of today’s world. Thus many of these authors, though not consciously, become the chroniclers, who record the characteristic atmosphere of today’s world. Jaroslav Kyša is represented in the exhibition by a video documentation of a performance in public space entitled In Oil We Trust. In the video a dense black liquid “springs out” from the artist`s mouth symbolizing fear, congestion and impact of omnipresent commercialization on our lives as well as the importance of oil and raw materials and consequences of their un/availability on the life of an individual. In the case of an installation of Pavla Sceranková and an object of Lucia Tallová the black colour becomes a means of expression in the formal way. The artists accentuate its expressivness, power of associations and emotional strength.
- We are in the Soda Gallery and00:00:04.433
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- the exhibition is called Darker Than Black.00:00:06.576
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- As the name indicates, the main theme is black colour00:00:14.175
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- and its use in contemporary art.00:00:21.925
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- The theme is very broad,00:00:25.061
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- so there's just limited selection of authors.00:00:27.286
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- I chose authors who appealed to me as a curator00:00:33.076
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- and whom I am close to.00:00:37.443
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- It's a collective exhibition of nine authors and one00:00:40.533
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- art couple from the Czech Republic and Slovakia.00:00:45.687
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- Why black? Well, it may have came out of00:00:49.439
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- the colour perception in the history of art,00:00:54.326
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- or within iconography and attitude of people to that colour.00:00:58.792
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- The colour is sensed a lot00:01:04.221
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- and there's a split perception,00:01:05.901
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- on the one hand, it's a majestic colour,00:01:08.942
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- referring to elegance, respect and power00:01:13.496
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- and on the other hand it's related to00:01:19.041
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- demoniac forces or something repulsive.00:01:22.485
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- Another line for the selection was00:01:32.545
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- the extent they treat the colour.00:01:35.154
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- For example Jan Vytiska or the art couple Jirka Franta00:01:39.361
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- and David Böhm use a linear black00:01:45.510
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- line primarily within their drawing installations.00:01:49.535
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- Whereas Martin Špirec uses the black a bit differently,00:01:58.596
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- with the help of the colour, he is able to model00:02:03.344
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- almost 3D effects. Although it's drawing,00:02:06.675
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- it's rather close to painting media.00:02:10.530
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- Some authors combine the theme00:02:13.694
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- of black or something sinister with expression00:02:17.779
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- and they also add another themes such00:02:24.272
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- as folklore, occultism, superstitions and in case00:02:29.262
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- of Lucia Dovičáková it's almost demonizing the feminine world.00:02:33.834
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- András Cséfalvay relates the black with dangerous fish.00:02:40.093
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- In the installation of Pavla Sceranková00:02:49.701
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- and Lucia Tallová the black functions and00:02:51.786
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- puts emphasis on expressivity and expressional strength.00:02:56.619