OPENING RECEPTION

June 18, 2013, 5 - 7 p.m.

EXHIBITIONS DATES

June 19, 2013 - September 27, 2013

ABOUT THE SHOW

David Böhm
100 Weeks
June 19 – September 27, 2013
David Böhm is best known for his artistic collaborations with Jiří Franta. His work explores the full scope of contemporary drawing, from newspaper and magazine illustrations to conceptual investigations of the medium’s possibilities. The integration of process-driven and performative elements comprises an important component of his artistic practice. He often expands his two-dimensional drawings by employing a third, temporal dimension. The subject – as well as the raison d’être - of his drawings tends to be drawing itself. What at first glance appears to be a spontaneous approach in fact turns out to be a process controlled by precise, pre-defined parameters. This tension between the freedom offered by the endless ways of covering an empty surface and an anxious adherence to often highly absurd limitations opens up new, or at least less explored, territories the craft of drawing. Traditionally, conceptual approaches have been linked to abstract, non-figurative forms; for the most part, David Böhm’s drawings are consistently figurative, developing stylizations from the world of caricature and comic books. His specifically balanced humour is not only etched into his drawings, but also into the thought process behind the construction of their conceptual framework. That not only invests them with an essential internal consistency, but also with a desirable detachment.
His latest project entitled 100 Weeks develops the mechanisms described above. Böhm set himself the task of making one drawing every day over the time period in the exhibition title, each composed of two components: a human head and text. He did not predefine the kind of head or the nature of the text, also leaving open their mutual interrelations. The drawings are also linked by a common format, predetermined by the sketchbook, and later sketchbooks, which he used. Motivations for such an approach may be sought in two directions. On the one hand there’s an attempt at anchoring “the free profession” of the artist, which in principle lacks regularity, by setting oneself a compulsory, predefined and minimal daily work quota. On the other, there’s curiosity as to whether repetition and the accumulation of outputs of banal activity can lead to a new, independent quality in the resultant whole. On another level - one that is a priori unplanned, yet predictable from the logic of the artist’s initial resolution - the individual drawings assembled for the exhibition give rise to a distinctive artist’s diary. Direct references to socio-political events at least momentarily allow a temporal orientation in the flow of chronologically ordered drawings. They are also permeated with allusions to the artist’s momentary personal situation and state of mind. This level of intimacy does not outweigh the initial concept, however. The only thing that David Böhm failed to maintain was the project’s temporal framework. He was unable to wrap up his activity after a hundred weeks, instead deciding to continue with the project. This has led to a shift in the current exhibition’s conceptual orientation towards a presentation of the first fragment of a whole whose final form remains open.
text: Ondřej Chrobák
translated by Marek Tomin
Financially supported by Ministry of Culture CR

ABOUT THE ARTIST

David Böhm
born 1982, lives in Prague

education
1997-2001 Secondary School of Applied Arts in Prague
2003-2009 Academy of fine arts in Prague
Vladimír Skrepl
Vladimír Kokolia

scholarship and residence
2006 scholarship at Faculdade de Belas Artes Universidade do Porto Portugal.
2008 scholarship at UUD ZČU Pilsner Czech at foto studio MgA.Alena Kotzmannová.
2011 residence Futura gallery, New York
2012 residence at ZKU Berlin

experience
Assistant of Dan Perjovschovi bringing to fruition the National Technical Library in Prague 2008 – 09

awards
Respect magazine awards 2012
Book Ticho hrocha (The Quiet the Hippopotamus) – most beautiful czech book 2009 (second place)
Book Ticho hrocha (The Quiet the Hippopotamus) - Gold Ribbon Czech IBBY for 2009 artistic achievement
selected individual exhibitions
2013
Copy of reality, together with Jiri Franta / Nitranská galéria, Nitra, Slovakia
Between the beginning and the end, together with Jiří Franta / Fokus cafe, Ústí nad Labem
Every day is World’s exhibition / gallery and bookshop Baobab, Tábor
2012
Echolog, together with Jiri Franta / Jiri Svestka gallery /Prague
Echolog, together with Jiri Franta / Jiri Svestka Berlin
2011
Whale Has Heart Big As Size Of A Car, together with Alena Kotzmannova / Fotograf gallery / Prague
View from above – nearly nothing is complete, together with Jiri Franta / church of st Antonín Paduánský / Sokolov
2010
Murale, together with Jiří Franta, festival Kregi sztuki / gallery Szara / Ciszyn, Poland
Nearly nothing is complete together with Jiri Franta / Karlin Sudios / Prague
Vedlejší efekt together with Jiří Franta / 207 gallery AAAD / Prague
The real vision, not to remember the future together with Jiří Franta / gallery Sokolovska 26 / Ostrava
Vedlejší efekt, together with Jiří Franta / gallery Cella / Opava
Rizky, Formát 1 / Langhans gallery / Prague
2009
What would you say if you could together with Jiří Franta / Fresh air gallery / Pilsen
Untitled, untitled together with Jiří Franta/ cafe Unicorn / Klatovy
Out of nowhere together with Jiří Franta / galleyry G99 / Brno
2008
Possibilities are great reasons are few with Jiří Franta / gallery Půda / Jihlava
Somewhere else like a guest in show Alena Kotzmannová / atelier Josefa Sudka / Prague
Call all artist – wooloo festival together with Jiří Franta / Berlin, Germany
Easy givennes together with Jiri Franta / Gallery Austrian culture center Prague /Prague
+ together with Jiri Franta / space of ex petrol station Slaný
Eltit together with Jiri Franta / gallery 35M2 / Prague
Koženka – leatherette / gallery Dole / Ostrava
2007
Epilogue together with Jiří Franta / Nabrezi gallery / Prague
Get Rich or Die / gallery Eskort / Brno
I have drawn it in order to have drawn it / information board of artgroup BJ, Komunardů street / Prague
2006
Nejdřív žrádlo potom morálka / www.galerieholec.cz
It is not, what it could be together with Jiří Franta / gallery NOD / Prague
Without title (neast box) together with Jiří Franta / window gallery NOD / Prague
Before you finish reading this sentence, there will be born twenty childeren on earth. / information board of artgroup BJ, Komunardů street / Prague

2005
One man show / galerie A.M.180 / Prague
Lidské teplo / tea cafe Basama / Prague
mám tě / gallery ETC. / Prague
Nevím co se děje kolem mne / Institut francais de prague / Prague

selected group exhibitions
2012
Jindřich Chalupecký award final 12 / The Brno House of Art, The House of the lords of Kunstat / Brno
6th Zlín Youth Salon / Zlín House of Arts / Zlín
From different corners / Plattform für junge kunst, Bäckerstrasse 4 / Vienna, Austria
2011
Prison: no limits for art / DOX / Prague
From different corners / Gallery Bart kunst in huis / Amsterdam, Holland
Sketch book / ETC gallery / Prague
NY / Prague 6 / Bohemian National Hall New York / New York, US
2010
4+4 days festival /Prague
Jindřich Chalupecký award final 09 / DOX / Prague
Biennial of young artist / Stribrei Palace / Bucharest, Romania
Action Zet / Emil Filla gallery / Ústí nad Labem
2009
After velvet / city gallery / Prague
Jindřich Chalupecký award final 09 / DOX / Prague
Ribba (30×40) / Gallery Kabinet / Brno
Untitled together with Jiří Franta and D.I.V.O. Institut, Subvision kunst festival / Hamburg, Germany
Aktualizacia II / curator David Korecký / Mesiac fotografii w Krakowie / Cracow, Poland
2008
Intro 518 teď 69 teď * teď 180 bonus q track! / Karlin studio / Prague
4+4 days festival /Prague
Ctihodná periferie / gallery Slávie / Nachod
2007
žvýkačka ambra / gallery AVU/ Prague
Intercity Berlin Praha 05 graphics – drawing / Mánes, Prague
Needed / gallery stanica / Žilina, Slovakia
Gross domestic product / city gallery / Prague
2006
Kokolia a druhá grafika / gallery Šternberk / Šternberk
Sell me buy me / gallery u dobrého pastýře / Brno
Shadows of humor / gallery Bielska BWA / Bialsko Biala, Poland
A Galina da vizinha é melhor que a minha / gallery 555 / Porto, Portugal

2005
Že je to opravdu strašné, ale ještě horší / gallery AVU / Prague
Kontaktní místa / holešovická tržnice / Prague
Hudební bonus / gallery Šternberk /Šternberk
2004
Velký bazar / la fabrika / Prague