The IN GALLERY exhibition space presents the painter Pavel Šmíd (1964), a graduate of the Prague Academy of Fine Arts in Jiří Sopek's painting studio.
Pavel Šmíd's contemporary work has a high dose of expression, although its source is often a cold technical image. He uses family photos as an archive of exceptional and recurring moments of human life. What does one particular frozen moment say about us? Photography has become a part of man's ritual action. We primarily record ritualized events, marriages, funerals, births, celebrations, riding the first bike, swimming in nature.
Human lives across generations and social bubbles clearly go through similar milestones. Ritual behavior induces a feeling of security, directs the flow of vital energy, allows us to focus on the essentials. Whatever it is.
By monumentalizing the format, pasty handwriting and opulent colors, a second life awakens behind a banal photographic snapshot. The ritual process of Pavel Šmíd's painting transforms the figures into a world of exciting drama, ambient music, restless seriousness, and ceremonial dance.
curator: Martina Vítková

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