Leather on the Rock / Šárka Zadáková-Růžičková, Petra Brázdilová

White Unicorn Gallery, Klatovy
8 Dec. 2012 – 27 Jan. 2013

The art group Kůže na Skále (Leather on the Rock) was founded in 2007 “in response to the pressing need to renew the seriousness of monstrous beauty and our own self-confidence.”

The group's name is based on the given names of its co-founders (and sole members), the painters Šárka Zadáková and Petra Brázdilová. (Šárka, from the Greek word for leather, personifies courage and flexibility; Petra, Greek for stone, personifies sturdiness and solidity). With equal doses of undisguised sincerity and exaggeration, the two artists declare: “Our duo symbolizes truth (sturdiness/rock) and mercy (flexibility/leather). Based on earlier informal meetings and discussions at well-concealed locations (since we do not enjoy exposing ourselves on the art market), we formulated the group's platform, which has the ambition of aiming towards the principles of the ‘new spirit' of those who promote art without artists.”

After five years of existing “underground,” the group's members have decided that the time is ripe for breaking out of the boundaries of privacy in order to once again come together. On the eve of the next in a series of predicted ends of the world, and in the spirit of its name and the coming-of-age novel Silver Wind, they have decided to hold a “class reunion” in the form of a joint exhibition.