opening: 5. 4. 2018 o 18.00 hod.
East Slovak Gallery, Hlavná 27
duration: 6. 4. 2018 - 3. 6. 2018
The word status refers to the state of things or events at a certain moment. Based on our vision, knowledge or needs, the situation can be definitive at a given moment. However, over time, it immediately becomes the basis, the precondition for the development of another form or idea, which at a certain moment, the period of existence of the form, its current state / status becomes the precondition, the basis of another.
In a continuous series of exhibitions (STATUS, FAIT Gallery, STATUS I, Nevan Contempo), Peter Demek examines form and time, where form and time have equal status. The form here represents the sculptural principles, the foundation, the physical basis always arising in the special motives of the author. Time is also a necessary variable here, as it records the duration of the process of thought creation and physical realization of the work, but also the duration of the process perceived by the observer.
As Milan Mikuláštik writes in the text for the exhibition STATUS I: The starting points of Petr Demek's work, it is necessary to look for during his studies at the Brno Faculty of Fine Arts, which he completed in 2006 in the sculpture studio of Jan Ambrůz. Perhaps that is why it is close to the economical, even minimalist form and emphasis on the materials used, the list of which is carefully limited, as well as the preferred color spectrum. During the fifteen years of his active artistic activity, Peter Demek developed a specific language. The code for this language has long been known only to the author.
Mikuláštik also writes about Demek's creative practices while working on "STATUS" as a thorough inventory and remixes of himself and his works, respectively. However, such a procedure, unexpected for a young established artist, has a fairly prosaic justification. Demek realizes objects of minimalist abstract forms on the basis of themes, which he draws from his archive of forms, and thus the age of each of the realized forms could be stated from the date of creation of its subject. We can imagine the way of creating the archive of forms as a simple note-taking apparatus, in which we record important ideas for later use. Even here, however, there can naturally be similarities in thinking or intentionally or unintentionally influencing oneself, generating new ideas (topics) based on previous ones. And in a simple and subconscious principle of learning and improving.
The repetition and recycling of forms in Demek's work can thus be considered as strategic and conceptual steps in the research of himself, or his creative sculptural abilities, as well as an effort to reveal the principles of creation. As a complex authorial concept and a pre-thought-out step, but also a kind of pseudo-scientific method also through the explanatory scheme that Demek created for the viewer's better understanding and grasp of his realizations. However, the author does not intend to leave the viewer free to interpret, but tries to lead him to "total reality". He also presents his "scientific visual theses" through live performances, where he moves some of his adapted objects, declaring himself as part of the work.
Peter Demek (1980, Prešov) graduated from the Faculty of Fine Arts, Brno University of Technology with prof. Jan Ambrůz, with internships at academies in Krakow, Mainz and Thiers. In 2013, he completed a residency at MacDowell Colony in New Hampshire in the United States. He has realized solo exhibitions in the House of Arts in Opava (2006) and in České Budějovice (2008), in the Galerie die Aktualität des Schönen in Liberec (2011) and OFF / FORMAT in Brno (2013) and others. In 2009 he participated in the 5th Biennial of the Industrial Footprint with an independent project in Zlín. His works were part of group exhibitions such as My Europe at the DOX Center for Contemporary Art in Prague (2009), XIV. Biennale Internazionale di Scultura di Carrara in Italy (2010), as well as the SKOK exhibition! Tales of (y) our City veWerkschauhalle v Leipzig (2013). His works are represented in the Fait Gallery collection. He lives and works in Prague in the Czech Republic.
The exhibitions of this gallery from public sources were supported by the Art Support Fund. The exhibition was further supported by: the Weber division of Saint-Gobain Construction Products CZ a.s., BKP GROUP, a.s., TAUN spol. Ltd.
