Czech Hyperrealist Painters Exhibition in Prague – Art & Inspiration

A collective show of 15 authors called Violence+ is taking place on three floors of the Bubeneč Villa. It will last until March 22. It shows the works of artists of different generations who were influenced by the artistic direction called hyperrealism and who tried to overcome the created illusion.

According to the curator Martina Vítková, the title refers precisely to reality amplified in various ways. “I feel that the word hyperrealism has become obsolete. That it no longer means anything,” says the expert, according to whom the works of hyperrealists go deeper than, for example, the possibilities of photography.

Hyperrealism is a trend originating in the USA, where the term was first used in the 1970s. Theodor Pištěk, who died in December, was also among the authors painting in this way in the Czech Republic, whose works are not missing in Villa Pellé. The organizers selected three of his illusory paintings from the 1970s, which were lent by Alš’s South Bohemian Gallery.

In addition to Pištěk, the pedagogue of the Prague Academy of Fine Arts, Bedřich Dlouhý, who passed away last year, and his colleagues Zdeněk Beran and Pavel Nešleha, who are no longer alive, are also represented here. All three belonged to a group called Zaostalí at the end of the 1980s. Later, they taught painting to their followers, whose works Villa Pellé also presents.

Of the artists born in the 1960s, for example, Karel Balcar, Richard Štipl and Blanka Valchářová are the only women among the painters. They are followed by artists born at the turn of the 70s and 80s, such as Daniel Pitín or Jan Uldrych. Among the youngest artists represented at the exhibition is Leoš Suchan, born in 1989.

The selected images work with illusion, imitation. They thus go beyond the chosen genre of portrait, still life, landscape or historical painting. For example, according to Karel Balcar, painting is one of the slowest media in today’s world. “Before you stretch the canvas, the world changes completely,” notes Balcar.

According to the director of Galeria Villa Pellé, Vladana Rýdlová, 15 artists are exhibiting on the three floors of the villa for the first time, the other local shows were smaller. The current one, among other things, shows how reality sometimes turns into an image that is also real. “Both phenomena indirectly criticize the time in which one gets lost in the excess of reality and ceases to really feel it,” said Rýdlová about the concept of the exhibition.

According to the curator, the viewer should uncover layers of meaning, enjoy a perfect execution or think about meaning and ethics. The exhibition will include guided tours with the curator and the artists.