Aleš Růžička / GIFT OF MELANCHOLY

WHITE UNICORN GALLERY IN KLATOVY
4. 7. - 6. 9. 2015

Aleš Růžička is a member of the artistic generation of the 1990s. Although this generation is characterized by an intermedia approach to art, Růžička is a faithful adherent of painting, a medium he does not depart from in his work. With an extraordinary sense and sensitivity for the visual and tangible values of art, he works with baroque methods in a manner similar to the way Karel Purkyně worked with material, or uses colorist accents like Josef Navrátil on his signboards. His paintings are characterized by a visible brushstroke. Růžička's main subjects are flowers. The flower grows, blossoms, loses its petals, produces a fruit, and wilts. Just like man. For this reason, flowers have accompanied us through life for as long as we can recall: birth, weddings, ordinary days, and our grave. Such flowers appear in Růžička's large-format still-lifes.

The generation of young artists who came into their own in the 1990s is now entering middle age and thus is beginning to look back and take stock. The exhibition at the White Unicorn Gallery shows not just Růžička's contemporary works, but follows his entire career, starting with the early landscapes that first earned him critical notice at the 4th Zlín Salon of Young Artists, where he stood out among the conceptual art and earned the Václav Chad Award.

Exhibition curator: Lucie Šiklová