A new art exhibition will go on display at Spilberk Castle in the coming days with the title “Sculptures in the Castle II – Martin Skalický”, presenting the monumental work of Martin Skalický from the last seven years, including some of the newest. More may be added in the next few months when they are completed.
Robert Janás, the curator of the exhibition, recommends coming to see the exhibition several times, as the sculptures will be moved to different locations over the next year.
Skalický himself said visitors should not be afraid to touch the statues, sit on their pedestals, and if they want, tie ribbons on them.
Skalický is among the most important sculptors of the school of Michal Gabriel at the Faculty of Fine Arts in Brno (FAVU). His works can be seen in different public spaces, including a commemorative plaque for Jan Rajlich on Brno’s Jirásková, a commemorative plaque for Jan Rajlich in Dírná, and his largest sculptural work so far, the tombstone of Marie Steinerová at the Brno Central Cemetery.
The author’s early work was in the form of suggestive hyperrealism, but in the past decade, he has moved from hyper-realistic sculpture to simpler, more abstract forms, interested in the structure of matter and experimentation with sculptural materials.
In addition to plastic materials and wood, textiles and artificial light sources are also treated as malleable materials in his creations. It will be works from this phase of his career on display in the current exhibition.
The previous art exhibition, by Jan Hendrych, was inaugurated more than a year ago, on 15 May 2023, and remained on the castle walls until 31 March.
The presentation of the new exhibition, in the presence of the sculptor and the curator, will take place on Wednesday, 19 June from 5 pm at Špilberk Castle. The statues will be displayed until 13 April 2025
