Location. Galerie Nová síň is a private medium size white cube gallery with one spacious hall and natural daylight; it is located between Národní Divadlo and Národní Třída in a small quiet street and has a long history, dating back to the end of 19th century, when it served as a studio, later transformed into a gallery in 1934.
Curator. PhDr. Terezie Zemánková, field of expertise – art brut
Artist. Jaroslav Štědra is a renown Czech artist, who has been true to his style throughout his career, specializing in abstract color fields and mastering the poetic approach to art:
“Jaroslav Štědra is precisely the type of artist who does not succumb to these pressures, while displaying these very esthetic and philosophical qualities. He communicates them through his work. He has mastered the strength of testimony of all the senses.
His painting, almost pedantic in its wonderfully soft approach to endless nuances, has created a supernatural world, warranted by the natural one. The colour, the surface subordinated to an original composition and plan informs us or rather tells us with supernatural feeling about the perspective of the world in the transcendental position of its meaning.“
Dimitrij Kadrnožka (Štědra’s fellow Czech artist)
The central topic of Štědra’s work is space and light, that is based on a concrete place or environment or some sort of mental space and the light of thought, connected to the sensory impression of volume, sound and smell of a particular moment.
Personal opinion. The second half of the 20th century has provided the world with a great number of abstract artists and one may feel rather lost facing more and more color fields, but I have to pay my respect to Štědra as someone who felt dedicated to his vision and style working in communist Czechoslovakia. At the same time his works remind me of the undefined shapes and colors of the room as I wake up and everything is out of focus for a brief moment, as well as other senses are not fully awake, this turbid and cloudy image is hard to chase and remember, it is ephemeral but worth trying to be chased.
Exhibition-wise I would not say that the show has any specialty, it is a white room with paintings on the walls at a regular hight without any type of lively dynamic. It is calm and simple, no overpowering text, no secret, you get the full impression of it as you enter.
photos by Matyáš Fára
More of artist’s works can be found in his online gallery.
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