Curator: Martina Mrázová

In the ephemeral present, when most of our lives take place in the immaterial world of social networks, information about civilization and culture encoded in ancient sculptural forms loses its original validity. Martin Skalický uses just such fragments of the past, which he fills with new morphological and semantic content through material experimentation and controlled chance. The exhibition Inner Drapery presents Skalický’s current work, based on a combination of soft, predominantly textile materials and sculptural forms commonly used in restoration practice to create casts. The amorphous materials, fixed with resin, assume only the coarse features of the form and refract the shape of the sculpture inward through rich textures. From materials and forms considered unnecessary or waste, Skalický creates impressive paraphrases that are only loosely related to the original object, like a vague memory. His work, which in recent years has spilled over into other materials such as paper, cardboard and glass, naturally combines spiritual values with ironic detachment and social critique.

Martin Skalický (1976) graduated from Michal Gabriel’s Studio of Figurative Sculpture at the Brno University of Technology (2000 – 2007) with a one-year internship at Kurt Gebauer’s Studio of Full Sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague (2003 – 2004). The starting point of his work is figurative sculpture, the possibilities of which he explores through non-traditional materials and the appropriation of forms. His work has long shown a particular interest in the use of textiles. He has exhibited at the Prague galleries Meetfactory, The Chemistry Gallery, Nová galéria, ProLuka, the Dominican Monastery of St. Jilje and the Moravian Gallery in Brno. His works are represented in the collections of the Moravian Gallery in Brno, the Gallery of Modern Art in Roudnice nad Labem and in many private collections in the Czech Republic and abroad. He lives and works in Veverské Knínice near Brno.