EXHIBITIONS > 1999 > PARK STROMOVKA, PRAHA

A solo exhibition in 1999 in a former Royal Game Preserve Park of the city of Prague called Stromovka presented altogether 16 objects distributed in various corners all over the large park .

It took place in the autumn of 1999, for 3 months in total. The curator of the exhibition Kateřina Pavlíčková also wrote a commentary for the catalogue published for the program.

Kateřina Pavlíčková: In the park

The First large single exhibition of the young sculptor Miloslav Fekar (born in 1973 in Hranice na Moravě) has a bit uncommon character. The fact that it takes place in Stromovka park in Prague is not so surprising, if we review the artists previous work. Fekar's work essentially belongs to the natural environment - and it is not just because he uses mostly natural materials (wood), or because his sculptures - objects - are mostly in a monumental dimension that would hardly fit into the limited space of a gallery. It appears to me that the main reason of his choice is the character and the message of his works.
Since the very beginnings Fekar's work has been directed towards the landscape, his main source of inspiration. While he studied at AVU in Prague (Visual Arts Academy) in the studio of Prof. Demartini his main topic was "reaction to specific environment", creating spots, that would somehow articulate the given environment. Since 1992 he has performed momentary landscape installations of rather private character, that today exist only on photographs.
Fekar's current concept of sculpture is somewhere on the boundary-line between object and architecture. The initial point for his work is physical experience of the space, open space of the landscape, but also the moment of a human being entering it, which, in his case evokes intimate enjoyment of individual parts of organic nature, or more conceptual, constructive but playful reaction. Both these approaches are in Fekar's work are perfectly balanced.
On one hand organically experienced plastics can be found (e.g. A conch, A Casket For Two) using natural morphology, on the other hand plastics such as Little Temple or Island Arbour the construction process of which makes them rather architecture. The sculptures-architecture refer to the classical morphology but extremely reduced - they call forth images of ancient archetypal constructions. (Some of them can not deny influence of Fekar's compatriot Ambrůz.)
Differentiating between organic and constructive objects is not absolute, since plastics such as Casket For Two could also function as architecture (as a functional hiding-place) and sculptures-architecture have actually no real function. And also, there are a few objects (e.g. Crystal Star shape, or Variable casket) unifying both organic and constructive character while balancing them in a very natural and fine way. It seems that is just the characteristic that drew Miloslav Fekar to finding the most appropriate environment for them in the park. For the character of a park is also somewhere between natural/artificial environment.
Such a park as Stromovka is a place of relaxation and a destination for weekend walks. It is a leisure time spot with a certain space for playing. In this sense Fekar's wooden sculptures offer space for fantasy: the variability of some of the exhibits invites playing with possible construction combinations and options. Being spread all around the park they inspire searching and discovering, hand-processed they invite touching. So for example: Would you like to hide in a conch?


Kateřina Pavlíčková