Center for Contemporary Arts Prague
www.fcca.cz 2006–2024
Sculptor David Černý is - contrary to most contemporary artists - a Czech cultural figure with high media visibility. He most often creates figurative sculptures made for display in public spaces. Much more than sorting out isolated aesthetic problems he is drawn to intervening in societal relationships and enlivening (animating) media space.
David Černý studied design and later sculpture at the Art-Industrial College (Vysoká škola uměleckoprůmyslová). However the independent cultural scene of the late 1980s/early 1990s had a more decisive impact on him than his studies. He took part in activities relating to Bullshitfilm. With his friends he created short-term installation and performances that bordered between parties and works of art. He displayed his works at shows under the former monument to Stalin. He created flying dollars for the Andy Warhol Museum in Medzilaborce. His first larger public reaction came from his sculpture of a dying trabant placed on Prague’s Old Town Square (1990).
His Pink Tank(1991), or army tank painted pink and meant to serve as a monument to the Soviet Army, provoked nation-wide discussion and debate. At the time it was a unique, politically-motivated artistic event that earned broad media coverage. Mr. Černý also attempted to break down public opinion with his mystifying events, Killing Days in Madrid and London, prepared for the Edge 92 Festival. A show at the Špala Gallery in Prague in 1993 marked the climax of David Černý’s first creative period. At the event he exhibited, among other things, his Kit series, an over-sized pistol first used in the Killing Days (Dni zabíjení) and the Malost (Smallness) installation from 1991.
Between 1994 – 1996 David Černý lived in New York, first as a resident at the P.S. 1 programme and later at the Whitney Studio Programme. He exhibited in the Ronald Feldman Gallery and also took part in the travelling exhibit Beyond Belief. His encounters with the American art scene however had a rather negative impact on him. Upon returning to Prague he began to work on films and simultaneously started to develop the motif of gigantic babies placed on the facades of various building structures. These came from his American period. In 2001 he succeeded in getting his work, Deset Miminek (Ten Babies), placed on the Žižkov TV tower. Since the end of the 1990s, David Černý has realised a number of large projects for public spaces. These include his permanently-displayed Viselec (Hanging Man - 1996) in Prague’s Jilská Street, as well as his series of bronze models from Czech historical periods: Český betlém (Czech Nativity Scene), a work on permanent display in the Škoda Pavillion at the Wolfsburg Automotive Museum. David Černý’s chosen artistic method often focuses on public provocation and testing aesthetic and societal limits. This fact has led to a number of his more financially-demanding projects not having been completed. The list of his works of this type accomplished after 2000 include the interactive fountain at the Herget Brick Mill (Hergetova cihelna), a bus stop in Liberec and a sculpture of a head, entered from the rear, outside the Futura Gallery.
Studies:
1995-1996 Whitney Museum Independent Study Program, New York, USA
1988-1994 Academy of Applied Arts, Prof. Kurt Gebauer, Prague
Grants and stipends:
1996 Pollock Krasner Foundation Grant, USA
1994-1995 P.S.I. artists residence, New York, USA
1991 Sculptor's residency grant Swiss government in Boswil, Switzerland
Awards:
2000 Chalupecky Prize, National prize for young artist, Czech Republic
1990 Special Prize in the Biennale of Kortrijk, Belgium
Performances and Group Actions:
2002 "Policeman for Rent", Prague
1991 "The Pink Tank", Prague - painting The Soviet War Memorial pink, Prague
1989 "Unreleased Secret Action", Prague
1988 "The Pose", Museum of Modern Art, Paris, France
1987 "Bridge", Prague
1986 "Sounds", Ostrava, Czech Republic