The Silence of Places

The Silence of Places presents Michal Škoda’s new collection of pencil drawings which deal with man’s relationship to a particular place and space. The drawings will be exhibited in the Kvalitář Gallery along with a selection of the artist’s own books and diaries from the last three years, uncovering his reasoning behind the works being currently exhibited.

Michal Škoda belongs among the solitary figures of the Czech art scene, known to the public as both an artist and authority figure. The latter is thanks to his curatorial role in the Gallery of Contemporary Art and Architecture, The House of Art, in České Budějovice, an institution which has become prestigious and international under Škoda’s wing.

Above all, Škoda’s work is concerned with the perception of space, human perspective, relationships and a series of questions related to human existence within the framework of the everyday. He primarily takes note of places influenced by humans, whether it be a work of architecture or an inconspicuous environmental element in the landscape. Through the long-term mapping of these “silent places” and subjective transfer of a three-dimensional space onto paper, the artist reduces reality to the form of black and white geometric fragments.

The current exhibition, presents a series of previously unexhibited drawings in the Kvalitář Gallery in Prague. These works are in turn supplemented with several of the artist’s own books.

Škoda has been working on his own books in parallel with other activities since 1996. A majority of these publications are diary-like in nature, becoming a certain type of documentation of his creative and life journey. These works are often made up of sets of inconsistent notes in the form of text, artwork, collages, and blurred photos taken with a digital camera deliberately printed using an ordinary printer. Through these notes the viewer is given the opportunity to discover the principles inherent in the artist’s thinking related to his artistic creation and development.

This is Michal Škoda’s second solo exhibition in the Kvalitář Gallery.