Jakub Janovský
Jakub Janovský (*1984), a graduate of the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague (AVU, the Drawing Studio, School of Prof. Jitka Svobodová), develops, evaluates and updates the starting point of drawing in the media of painting, collage, enamel, sculpture, object, video and installation. The process of “updating” is linked to his perennially present themes, which include memory and its antithesis, i.e. forgetting (!), as a subset of personal and collective experience. Cyclical time is subtly and craftily intertwined with historical time, often creating absurd, desperate or nostalgic situations. The exhibition at Prague’s Trafo Gallery is a continuation of Janovský’s synoptic show last year entitled THE CEMENT GARDEN at the Ales South Bohemian Gallery. The almost fairytale-like title BIRD IN A CAGE refers to the contradictory state of immediate association – prison or freedom, depending on whether the cage is occupied or remains empty. However, this semantic certitude of polarity is problematised by the artist and his exhibition project. It remains an open question as to what exactly a “cage” for a “bird” may symbolise and whether it sometimes seduces precisely by setting clear boundaries to a boundless freedom. The door is open, but there is something present that prevents the bird from leaving the cage or, on the contrary, that it accepts as an immutable given. The exhibition will present the artist’s new paintings, sculptures and moving image in an interconnected installation. The project will be accompanied by an original artist’s foldout picture book. The exhibition is curated by Petr Vaňous.
