2009 Prague Biennale

By Ryan

We happened to get the chance to go check out the Prague Biennale last week, and it was both surprising and satisfying. The exhibit was held in a big empty warehouse in Karlin (Prague 8), and despite the near-zero budget was presented nicely and consistently. There were a few pieces in the show that were not worthy of their company, but over all the work was great. Here are my personal highlights.

I am in love with the works by Wang Yaqiang. A simple and elegant style wrapped around consumerism critical work.

In the vein of consumerism was the still life by Kira Kim. You could almost smell the french fries.

A series from photographers Barbora Žůrková and Radim Žůrek called “The Replacement” re-imagines the childhood of famous people using child look-alikes.

I had to include the painting “Il segreto di Hitler” for the sheer joy it brings. The piece “House arrest” tells me that maybe Eva Kotátková has too many books. Have a garage sale Eva.

I didn’t catch the name of the artist who made this next piece. If you know who it was by, let me know and I’ll change it here. It’s made of half-rolled photos cast into blocks of plastic resin and arranged in a pattern reminiscent of a dna test. Each photo is a passionately blurred image of a bare (and large) breasted woman apparently having quite a good time. An interesting interpretation of the true purpose of passion.

Being the sucker I am for the graphic aesthetic, I couldn’t leave out the paintings by Ján Vasilko. With names like “Exorcising the Evil Spirit” and “Industrial Saint” it would seem these paintings are a little late in darting the industrial revolution.

What I first thought was a series of action paintings by (Damon Zucconi) was, to my surprise, actually a series of digital prints. To me this seems to be a great use of the irony of digital artwork, and digital painting.

I love these knights by Andro Semeiko also.

Beautiful and enormous photos by Bongho Ha. Each image is made of several exposures combined in a way I can’t exactly explain. Gorgeous.

One of my favorite pieces in the whole show was the collection of little ceramic monsters by Ronald Ventura. A big mass of them stood in a nook in the wall, seeming to be gathering for some unimaginable action.