František Skála
The exhibition Abstractio per naturam displays the extraordinary character of František Skálain the form of works whose simplicity and distinctive aesthetics border on abstraction or minimalism. The artist does not deviate from his established creative path, but simply leadshis processes and their results to a refined essence in terms of both form and content. Indeed, terms such as abstraction and minimalism can only serve as a tool allowing us to describe the transparent purity of the Skálerian distillate that the exhibited artworks represent.
In the series entitled Folded Industry, František Skála deliberately sets limits on his painterly style. He allows the sparse paint to infuse itself into the ground material folded in different ways. At first glance, however, this almost conceptual approach results in products possessing an irreplaceable expressiveness. The final canvasses are transformed into letters, floor plans or framed fields for our fantasies and imaginings.
The cycle of paintings entitled Circles is defined by circular or elliptical mats and natural pigments. Using these, the artist creates concentric colour chords and this minimal creative language bears the imprint of his aesthetic. The sediments of colour harmony have the power of a hypnotising window into another dimension of being, and their titles sometimes push them towards poetic, or conversely, earthily playful meanings.
The sculptural series Models of Monuments (Momo) benefits not only from the material used (the bobbins used in the textile industry), but above all from its intimate scale. It is easy to image the tiny translucent shapes as scaled-down modernist works for the public square, but also to reverse-dream miniature cityscapes in which these sculptures would find their final application. The exhibition at Trafo Gallery will contain a site-specific installation in room dimensions.
The cosmopolitan title Stones and Bones conceals a series of tiny bone sculptures on slate plinths. These are monuments designed for various world capitals, which are still awaiting realisation.
František Skála’s work often impresses his viewers with its ease, creating the impression that the artist miraculously comes across his works in his own immediate surroundings. However, simplicity does not mean effortlessness: in fact, these pieces require considerable effort, perhaps only sometimes crowned with a happy accident. The current exhibition at Trafo Gallery is thus above all the artist making good on his many years of experience with the natural world and with human material production.
