Telegraph Gallery is opening an exhibition by Zbyněk Sedlecký entitled Inscenation in the second half of February. His work is influenced on the one hand by his experiences with the totalitarian regime of socialist Czechoslovakia, and on the other by the vibrant period of newly acquired freedom in the 1990s and the consumerist present, as the curator of the exhibition Petr Vaňous writes in the exhibition text. Zbyněk Sedlecký uses a classical painting technique to discuss the relationship between the figure and the space in which it moves, based on his own photographic record. The most significant change in Sedlecký's work in recent times is the change in his approach to the painted object. His interest has shifted from detached documentary to the self and the exploration of objects that are 'at hand', both metaphorically and factually from exterior to interior, and from incidental scenes to staging. This change in approach is due to a period of quarantine that allowed the artist to reassess his previous work and delve into more intimate themes.
The next exhibition we will be launching in May has been prepared by Michal Škoda. The solitary artist is also well known on the Czech art scene as the curator of the Gallery of Contemporary Art and Architecture of the House of Art of the City of České Budějovice, which has become a prestigious institution with international reach during his tenure. The author, who has so far been involved in the creation of objects, photography and drawing formally minimized to the outer limits of abstraction, will for the first time present paintings of reduced colour in which he tests his ability to carry the illusion of shape processes. Given his own interest in the perception of space, human perspective and architecture, at the Telegraph Gallery he will create a site specific installation working with the gallery as a compact artwork, an environment.
From August, the Telegraph Gallery will be exhibiting works by five British painters. The exhibition is part of curator Jane Neal's series charting Central European painting. The first venture in the series was the exhibition project German Painting Now, which featured painters of the contemporary German scene, including Matthias Weischer, Tim Eitel and Martin Eder. Artists in the upcoming exhibition will include Jessie Makinson, Caroline Walker, Tom Anholt and Justin Mortimer. Jane Neal is an expert on the contemporary art scene in Eastern Europe and is one of the most respected independent curators working primarily in the field of figurative painting. For example, she is behind the success of artist Adrian Ghenie, who is considered one of the most sought-after artists in the world. Her portfolio includes many exhibitions throughout Europe, as well as in the United States and India. In the Czech Republic, for example, in 2017 she presented a selection from the Robert Runták Collection in an exhibition entitled Disturbed Imagination at the Gallery of Fine Arts in Ostrava.
At the end of the year, visitors can look forward to a project called Connections. It is a selection of authors by curator Terezie Zemánková. Thanks to her grandmother, the art brut artist Anna Zemánková, whose estate she manages, Terezie Zemánková got into raw art. In addition to pure art brut, she is interested in the boundaries of this art and its penetration into the sphere of the work of established artists. The exhibition will feature, for example, Inge Kosková, Dagmar Havlíčková, Jana Kasalová, Tomáš Lampar and Josef Duchan. The architect of the exhibition is Mark Ther, who has already had two solo projects at the Telegraph Gallery. One was his solo exhibition, May, which worked with many taboo subjects, the other was the unforgettable architecture of Signal III: Masterpieces from the Robert Runták Collection (1900-1990), which was inspired by the lavish salons of the twentieth century.
In addition to the exhibitions, Telegraph Gallery is also preparing additional programming in the form of visits to the artist-in-residence's studio. This year, it will be possible to experience live the creative process of painter David Pešat or Moldovan artist Alexander Tinei, whose solo exhibition can be seen until 19 March at Prague's DOX. Another artist in residence will be sculptor Sabina Knetlová, who has had a successful Vienna Contemporary Art Fair in collaboration with Karpuchina Gallery.
The Telegraph Gallery programme also includes talks on collecting contemporary art. Robert Runták, owner of the Telegraph, opened the lecture series, followed by a lecture by curator Jan Kudrna and Josef Meixner, founder of the Hell Sled Gallery in Kroměříž. The last lecture was prepared by Nicole Stava, co-owner of the Bechyně Manor, in collaboration with curator Lucie Drdová. In April, visitors can look forward to a talk by gallery owner Alexandra Karpuchina.
Another Telegraph Gallery program is the Artist Presentations lecture series. This is a meeting with the artists themselves, which is an opportunity to see behind the scenes of their work. A slightly different type of event is the Promotion in the Creative Industries presentation series. This event is suitable for anyone who wants to develop their skills in marketing creative activities.
