THE CONNECTION OF VARIOUS PARTS OF THE ANTHROPOLOGICAL MUSEUM HAVE SHIFTED

Artists statement: The exhibition title comes from a book by Carlos Castenady, a novel I have recently discovered. Its meaning refers to an Anthropological museum in Mexico City, which I have visited in 2000. Encountering pre-columbian sculpture and the museum itself has been an extremely intense and inspiring experience. Although Michal Šiml visited Mexico for the first time eight years ago, works presented in this show have been created through out the past year. The artist explains: When photographing individual sculptures at the Anthropological Museum, I have realized that this technique is not suitable for the presentation of this work. Modern technical equipment and european science are not compatible with the pre-columbian period and the area in general. Photography is not able to fully grasp the beauty and nature of this work, and a museum sign aiming to describe its characteristics is similarly ineffective. For this reason I have chosen the media of painting, a predecessor of photography. I use this technique in order to present the message embedded in each and every sculpture. Due to the complex nature of these sculptures I do not think that i can fully pass on every element, but hopefully I have at least successfully presented their aesthetic and ritualistic nature. For one month will the space of Karlín Studios become a paraphrase on the Anthropological Museum in Mexico City. The show will exhibit over a hundred paintings, depicting solely excitated faces. The technique is highly expressive with a monochrome color pallet. Through combining different colors Šiml applies various tones of grey, resembling the color structure of Camille Corrot. The expression of his painting reminds of central european art. Michal Šiml has exhibited for the first time in 1989 at gallery Gebr.Lehmann in Dráždany. Since then he has presented his work as a part of the Pode Bal Collective. His collective identity has woken up feelings of conformity: “I have missed the individuality and the stress of puting up my own show.”