22 Jan 2010

Kristof Kintera: A Bigger Problem Than Yours at Jiri Svestka Gallery, Prague

Under the title “A Bigger Problem Than Yours” the Prague Jiri Svestka Gallery presents the work of Kristof Kintera (1973); the author’s fascination with energy takes the form of bulky light objects as well as recent work on paper. Kintera is one of the most well known young Czech artists.

Kintera’s works speculate about the role and options of art in contemporary society. He creates sculptures and installations by combining or altering ordinary objects in unusual ways. By modifying common objects from everyday life, Kintera gives them new meaning and allows us to see a more removed perspective. Kintera himself refuses to be put in the category of conceptual artists and stresses that his works are mainly sculptures.

“I try to always be a bit different and to constantly choose new methods, not to get stuck with a single principle. I believe a number of sculptors recycle a single method - some kind of visual code - that they come up with. I try to avoid that. Here, at the Jiri Svestka Gallery, you’ll see a set of eight sculptures. But if you place them one next to the other, I admit they may evoke a kind of country walk. Although they were created independent of each other, the sculptures can form a totality… In addition to objects, I also present my drawings; the most recent ones are created using a special substance that always seems to be glossy or wet or sort of streaming down.“

The exhibition is dominated by two sculptures, “My light is your light“, a giant chandelier, and “My light is your life”, a figure, both of which reflect Kintera’s long-term obsession with public lighting lamps and light energy in general. “I myself now call it intuitive formalism; I believe there are a lot of things going on there…e.g. the memory of those lamps - where the lamps shone etc.… it is also about the energy of those lamps, the light, the glow. Even the glowing heat suddenly becomes the sculpture, even the buzzing sound of 50 Hz.” In his installations, Kintera makes a smooth transition from public space to the gallery, which adds a new dimension to his works and provides for new interpretation options.

Kristof Kintera graduated from the Prague Academy of Fine Arts, where he studied in several studios. He also studied at the prestigious Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten in Amsterdam for two years. He co-founded and, in the period 1998 - 2001, managed the NoD Universal Space. Kintera is a member and co-founder of the group Jednotka (the Unit). In 2007 he was the guardian of the exhibition Gross Domestic Product in the Municipal Library in Prague. He also participated in the controversial Entropa installation.

His work is well known even abroad and his works are represented in a number of art collections. These include the National Gallery in Prague, the Municipal Gallery in Prague, Rubell Family Art Collection in Miami, Fogg Art Museum of the Harvard University in Boston, Ludwig Museum in Budapest, Museum der Moderne Salzburg, Jerry I. Speyer, New York, Thomas Olbricht, Thomas Newbold, Europäisches Patentamt in Munich, etc.

The most significant exhibitions presenting the work by Kristof Kintera include e.g. “All creatures great and small” in the Zacheta National Gallery in Warsaw (2009), “La Foule-0-infinity” in the Espace D´art Contemporain La Tolerie in Clermont-Ferrand (2008), “Ad Absurdum” in the Marta Herford Museum in Herford (2008), “Going Staying” in the Kunstmuseum in Bonn (2007), “Cinq milliards d´années / Five Milliards Years” in Palais de Tokyo in Paris, “Positioning, In the New Reality of Europe” in the National Museum of Modern Art in Osaka, in the Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art and in the Museum of Contemporary Art in Tokyo (2005), “Prague Biennale II” in Prague (2005), “Bohemian Birds“ in the Kunst Haus Dresden (2000), “After the Wall“ in the Moderna Museet in Stockholm (1999) or “Manifesta II” in x Luxembourg, Luxembourg (1998).