David Cerný Makes Social Commentary with Controversial Public Art
Czech sculptor David Cerný has a reputation for being a "bad boy" artist. Although he rejects labels, he is most certainly a political artist, one whose works visually lash out against his government's hypocrisies. One of the first pieces to put him on the international map was a pink Soviet tank that served as a war memorial in Prague, followed by such sculptures as the Czech patron St. Wenceslas riding an inverted horse, and giant stainless steel babies crawling up the city's TV tower, to name a few. They are witty and bizarre but come from an intellectual place, even though the artist refuses to take himself too seriously. While he recognizes that his hometown in Prague is easily shocked, he does not create art for the sole purpose of shocking his audience.
Czech sculptor David Cerný has a reputation for being a “bad boy” artist. Although he rejects labels, he is most certainly a political artist, one whose works visually lash out against his government’s hypocrisies. One of the first pieces to put him on the international map was a pink Soviet tank that served as a war memorial in Prague, followed by such sculptures as the Czech patron St. Wenceslas riding an inverted horse, and giant stainless steel babies crawling up the city’s TV tower, to name a few. They are witty and bizarre but come from an intellectual place, even though the artist refuses to take himself too seriously. While he recognizes that his hometown in Prague is easily shocked, he does not create art for the sole purpose of shocking his audience. Cerný was born during the era of Communist Party Rule, when thousands of Czechoslovaks faced political persecution. In a sense, he finds himself grateful for the experience because it continues to provide him with inspiration for new ideas. One of his most recent statues, for example, is “Gesture,” a larger-than-life purple middle finger raised to the front of Prague Castle, where the president resides. It was installed just a few days before an election. Another is “In Utero,” a 20 foot tall reflective sculpture of a full-frontal naked woman. None of these works are for the faint of heart, but neither is the history of Cerný’s country, and keep those aspects of Prague’s history alive for both residents and visitors.
In some strange future, Aggie Zed’s “Scrap Floats” take part in a procession of the eerie and the familiar. These parade floats are comprised of animals, human parts, mechanized gadgetry, and, well, other scraps. The mixed-media sculptures currently haunt the Rivermont Studio in Lynchburg, Virginia, where the show "ta da!" pairs Zed's pieces with work from book artist Ginna Cullen.
Katharine Morling's monochromatic ceramic sculptures carefully utilize black lines to create the illusion of two-dimensionality. Morling sculpts mundane objects out of a brittle, white clay, laying them out like still lifes that resemble ballpoint pen doodles on paper. The doodle-like quality is an important aspect of the work. Morling isn't interested in building ceramic replicas of cameras or typewriters: Instead, she reinterprets them with her hands and her imagination, inviting us to consider how the objects that surround us shape our thinking.
Mundane elements of city life like cars, bicycles, and architecture become sites for imaginative play in Gerry Judah's sculptural work, which often combines the otherworldly and the utilitarian. From his various flying car installations to his recent "Bengal" series, in which models of religious temples precariously balance on top of bicycles, Judah initially captivates viewers with spectacle. But the attention-grabbing visual components are what lead one to explore the more serious themes that Judah broaches.
After visiting the Chinese village where generations of his family had lived, sculptor Warren King decided on an ambitious, new body of work: One individual at a time, he would recreate the residents of his grandparents’ community using just cardboard and glue. The life-sized figures help the artist connect with his cultural and ancestral heritages, each its own emotion and moment in time. The backs of the figures are exposed, allowing the viewer to see their interworkings and hinting at the unfinished nature of history.
David Cerný Makes Social Commentary with Controversial Public Art
Czech sculptor David Cerný has a reputation for being a “bad boy” artist. Although he rejects labels, he is most certainly a political artist, one whose works visually lash out against his government’s hypocrisies. One of the first pieces to put him on the international map was a pink Soviet tank that served as a war memorial in Prague, followed by such sculptures as the Czech patron St. Wenceslas riding an inverted horse, and giant stainless steel babies crawling up the city’s TV tower, to name a few. They are witty and bizarre but come from an intellectual place, even though the artist refuses to take himself too seriously. While he recognizes that his hometown in Prague is easily shocked, he does not create art for the sole purpose of shocking his audience. Cerný was born during the era of Communist Party Rule, when thousands of Czechoslovaks faced political persecution. In a sense, he finds himself grateful for the experience because it continues to provide him with inspiration for new ideas. One of his most recent statues, for example, is “Gesture,” a larger-than-life purple middle finger raised to the front of Prague Castle, where the president resides. It was installed just a few days before an election. Another is “In Utero,” a 20 foot tall reflective sculpture of a full-frontal naked woman. None of these works are for the faint of heart, but neither is the history of Cerný’s country, and keep those aspects of Prague’s history alive for both residents and visitors.
Aggie Zed’s Haunting, Elegant Parade of “Scrap Floats”
Katharine Morling Creates Illusion of Drawing with Ceramic Sculptures
Gerry Judah’s Sculptural Work Draws Viewers in Through Spectacle
Warren King Recreates Villagers With Cardboard, Glue