Martin Froulík
Curated by Sam
Opening | > 4th October 2014 | > 6 p.m.
The exhibition will run until 22th November 2014
A Trip to the Mountains is the fourth exhibition in the Sam83 gallery dedicated to the Ostrava art scene. The focus of the gallery program on a specific city such as Ostrava is not random. This focus physically demonstrates that not only that which is central and primal, is being. Put simply, this concept documents the various views of existence, nature and conditions of creating art in a post-industrial town on the outskirts of a small country which is itself peripherial, and tries to correct a biased centralizing view of the world.
Martin Froulík (1986) is a representative of the youngest generation of artists; he studied under Jirka Surůvka who was the first to draw attention to that uniqueness of Ostrava in the Czech context. The strengthening of his voice had to do with the activity of the Ševčíks in the 1990s.Those who studied under the Surůvkas, Lysáčeks and Balabans have developed an...artfulness (?) thanks to the adoption of the periphery in the form of Ostrava's exhibitions (Prague, Manes, 1998, J. and J. Sevcik) They have the possibility to continue to free and untangle the Central Europeasn ballast.
Martin Froulík chose painting as a means of communicating his commentary on the world. A dark or bright acrylic glaze covers the upper layer of visible cardboard templates which result in increased graphics or large linocuts with irregular knife cuts. The form invites the viewer to search for content in individual plans of the image. Even if his work has no direct historical attachment to the Informel, just a glance at his paintings reveals a connection to Un Art Autre (Other Art), which is cased in contemporary visuality as a means of encoding aesthetic alienation and the intangibility of the world. The modus operandi is related to the contents. The screens reflect emotions generated by landscapes, relationships and simple stimuli. The skeleton in his image then forms a compact character composed of small separate definite and indefinite shapes sprayed in sharp tempelate lines. Alongside the paintings and prints, a cycle of small objects of hooks made of blankets is being exhibited as well . Hardened drapes and handkerchiefs, towels and other fabrics that store memories.
Froulík's color usually comes from the landscape, so Martin went on a trip to the mountains.
