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About the gallery
We are opening the Art brut Prague Gallery as the first exhibition space in Prague focused exclusively on the work of artists who, for various reasons, are unable or unwilling to join the mainstream art scene.
“Here, things are raised proudly
and more stabbingly,
the world is full of edges
on which we have
hurt ourselves many times.”
The quote, taken from Josef Čapek’s groundbreaking book The Most Modest Art, will greet all visitors at the entrance as a foreshadowing of the type of work they will encounter here.
To clearly define the gallery, the name was chosen after the painter Jean Dubuffet’s famous term art brut – usually translated in Czech as “art in its raw state”.
But not all the artists the gallery will represent necessarily fall into the category of art brut as it is usually conceived. Some of them, for various reasons, become outsiders, not even classifiable in this field.
The selection of the artists is basically conditioned by the absence of any conscious calculation in their work aimed at achieving success in the world of contemporary art.
The gallery also wants to support its artists by making their works available for sale.
Exhibitions
Iveta Horváthová
Good Soul
Dobrá duše
5. 12. 2024–11. 1. 2025
Curator of the exhibition: Terezie Zemánková
The artistic world of Iveta Horváthová—who occasionally goes by the name Riminka Filí, depending on her mood—has undergone noticeable changes in recent years.. Her work now resembles a richly decorated theater set, or even a theater curtain, drawing us into a space where perspectives shift, colors abound, and shapes intertwine and multiply.
To understand this change, we should consider one of the most significant events in Iveta’s life: in August 2020, she experienced a major turning point. “I still can’t believe I have a new apartment and home,” she wrote in her biography. “I lived as a homeless person for three years. I waited twenty-eight years for an apartment to live like a human being.” The apartment, provided by the city government, became both her home and studio, offering her the peace and stability that allowed her to grow in new ways.
Iveta first drew attention in 2006, when her drawings of mysterious cities and faces were showcased at the international exhibition of the Art Brut Collection abcd at the Stone Bell House in Prague. Her work was accompanied by a profoundly moving biography, revealing memories of family abuse, social exclusion due to her Roma heritage, severe mental illness, long hospitalizations, and a life without a permanent home. By 2022, at the (Ne)moc exhibition at Prague’s DOX, visitors could read the raw, personal accounts of her struggles directly from her drawings, where shapes gave way to “bare” written words on paper.
Since 2013, Iveta has collaborated with the Studio of Joyful Creativity at Letná. In the early years, her work primarily featured highly expressive faces with fixed gazes. Over time, she revisited certain motifs, such as a large, protective tree or a lone human figure facing something overwhelmingly immense.
Looking at her exhibitions in Prague this year—both at the Art Brut Praha gallery and Café Nona on Národní třída (open until December 31, 2024)—Iveta’s artistic world may still seem complex, but it is now notably more playful. While there remains something unsettling, even potentially dangerous, in her work, it is now met with a sense of agency. It is no longer simply about hiding from the world, but rather confronting it.
Jaromír Typlt
About the authors
The main circle of authors is formed by the persons who create in the Studio of Joyful Creation at Letná: Dagmar Filípková, Šárka Hojaková, Dominik Jirsa, Jarmila Jandová, Marie Kohoutková, Václav Kuklík, Marie Kůsová, Lorenzo, Karel Pajma, Lukáš Paleček, Vojtěch Proske, George Radojčič, Iveta Riminka Filí, Ladislav Svoboda will be presented here.
However, internationally known names such as Anna Zemánková or Zdeněk Košek will also be represented. Other authors who have already gained attention include Hana Fousková, La Inthonkaew, Ota Prouza, Helena Skalická and Tomáš Krupka.
Practical information
The gallery will be open five afternoons a week, Tuesday to Saturday 2 – 7pm.
www.artbrutpraha.cz
artbrut.praha@gmail.com
+420 606 028 942 (during opening hours)
+420 602 646 665 (out of hours)
Postal address: Galerie Art brut Praha, Resslova 300/6,
120 00 Praha 2 – Nové Město.
About the place and the founder
The gallery acquired its space after the renovation of a long unused technical building at St. Wenceslas Church in Zderaz.
The operator is the Altán Art association, which has so far been active mainly in Letná: in 2013 it opened the Studio of Joyful Creation here as the first Czech studio providing facilities for artists falling into the category of art brut, and in 2017 it opened up also to the wider public by establishing the ART Cultural and Community Centre, where senior citizens and people with disabilities develop their artistic interests together. Vladimír Drábek is the main representative of the association. More information on the website www.altanart.cz .
Curator
Jaromír Typlt (1973) is a poet, performer and essayist. During 2000-2010 he worked in Liberec as a curator of photography and contemporary art exhibitions at the Small Exhibition Hall and then at the U Rytíře Gallery. Since the end of the 1990s he has also helped to promote the work of overlooked authors, publishing the first book on Zdeněk Košek (2001), literary texts by Hana Fousková, František Novák and many others. In 2018, he started cooperation with the association Altán Art. He has long focused on the topic of “écrits bruts” – written expressions in art brut.
Gallery partners
Studio of Joyful Creation at Letná
Czechoslovak Hussite Church in Prague 2 – New Town
Graphic studio chapter
abcd praha
Media partners
Analogon
Revolver Revue
Souvislosti
I am convinced that a considerable circle of artists, those interested in art brut and the
Pavel Konečný, art brut collector
professional public can form around the Art Brut Prague gallery in a very short time. The
project is a positive response not only to initiatives stemming from the vibrant undercurrent of
our spontaneous creativity, but also responds to calls from foreign cultural institutions to
strengthen the voice of outsider art, including by improving intercultural cooperation and
dialogue across European borders.