04 SEP - 18 OCT 2019

JAROSLAV RÓNA

curator: Lucie Rónová

White & Weiss Gallery invites you to an exhibition by Jaroslav Róna, co-founder of the artistic group The Stubborn (Tvrdohlaví), creator of several public sculptures (including the Franz Kafka Memorial in Prague, and The Mythical Ship in Bratislava) and first and foremost one of the most outstanding contemporary visual artists in the Czech Republic. This first solo exhibition of Jaroslav Róna in Slovakia will feature a selection of his sculptures and paintings from 2001 onwards. Róna continuously and repeatedly explores the theme of darkness. Darkness, as he thinks, is an ever present phenomenon that needs to be fought, perhaps also through art. The exhibition will continue until 18 October 2019.

Jaroslav Róna – sculptor, glassmaker, ceramic artist, set designer, teacher – is one of the most outstanding and distinctive contemporary visual artists in the Czech Republic. In his works, Róna creates his own iconic world, visualizing it through a metaphysical language. His premonitions are macabre, showing us pre-apocalyptic visions of the world, full of fear from potential humiliation and a deficit of humanity. His unique visual expression is typical for its perfection of craft. His art work as a whole comprises his own Teatro Mundi, full of monsters, aliens, and de-humanized creatures ruling the world.

Róna´s art work has an intense presence in the public space. He has created several significant public sculptures, including The Mythical Ship (2010) on the bank of the River Danube in Bratislava at River Park.  He made  the world renowned Franz Kafka Memorial (2003) in Prague, Child from Mars at Ješťed Mountain (2010), and the monumental sculpture Courage in Brno to the memory of J. Luxemburský (2015). He has also designed sets for the theatre (Schiller’s Intrigue and Love directed by J. A. Pitinský) and the film America (V. Michálek). For years he performed in the iconic group of comics Tros Sketos (together with F. Skála and A. Najbrt), which opened the 37th International Film Festival in Karlove Vary.

Born in Prague in 1957, Jaroslav Róna started to paint during his vocational studies in Hlinské, but the decision to become a painter emerged only after seeing the Polish film Illumination (K. Zanussi). When he was 18 years old, he applied for the secondary school of arts and design. After finishing his studies with the school leaving examination, he applied for the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design (UMPRUM). Prof. Libenský accepted him in his Glass Studio, from which he graduated in 1984. In 1987, he co-founded the group called The Stubborn (Tvrdohlaví). He worked in Prague’s Theatre Sklep, he is a Knight of the Green Ladybird Order, and a member of Mimóza group and the prank group B.K.S. (which stand for “the end of the world will come”). In 2005-2015 he headed the sculpture studio at The Academy of Fine Arts in Prague. He has won a number of important prizes in the visual arts, and mounted exhibitions in prestigious galleries around the world.