Publication details
Břetislav Malý / Soft Steel
| Authors | |
|---|---|
| Year of publication | 2024 |
| Type | Exposition |
| Citation | |
| Description | Let's remember how in galleries in front of paintings we often look for a suitable angle in order to catch a glimpse of the painting among the light reflections. We know that we perceive colors because of their ability to absorb and reflect light rays. At the same time, the reflected light creates a barrier of glare that changes with every change in lighting conditions. So what do we actually see when we look at a picture? Do we not perceive instead a kind of visual smog that more or less clings to the surface and prevents us from penetrating to the very matter of the image? Reflections on the essence of the image and the possibilities of our perception led Břetislav Malý to think through pictorial situations in which he places elementary aspects of painting in new positions and relationships. The image surface as a traditional field of visual interest is radically deviated from the axis in his pictorial objects. Our eyes cannot stick to the surface of the painting, because there is no frontal surface. Rigid steel structures hold together layered canvases treated with pure graphite, which give the impression of the presence of a painting surface. Instead, however, the structural relationships of the image are emphasized, either in the form of profiles of layered natural canvases, or in the form of dense homogeneous structures made of welded steel lines, which in contrast to the strict steel strips appear unexpectedly soft, as if they open up an area inaccessible to the observer. |