16 Apr 2012

Prinz Prager Gallery presents Viktor Frešo: EASTERN CONNECTOR

Thanks to his academic activities in Vladimír Skrepl and Michal Bielický´s studios, during a time of widespread postproduction, Viktor Frešo, a young, Slovak artist known in Prague, represents a valuable exception. Though his highly professional postproduction dominates, his artwork is based on far broader context of strategies and meanings than the norm. The basic theme of Viktor Frešo´s movement on the art scene is studying his common etymological and narrative qualities, searching for its sense, its auracity and sparklingly initial creative substances; only then he is interested in the strategy of his own production. In this sense Frešo is a romantic artist. With respect to his restless character and exclusive talent, rešo perceives his presentations as events sui generis, as gestures that have their exquisite aesthetic canon and meaning. However, his presentations are mainly events, actions or performances. The firmly arranged exhibition with perfectly polished objects is also an active and variable event, or rather an incentive to be perceived. At a certain point, the exhibition is a stoppage of creative production. From this point media and 'material' scales Frešo´s artwork, where the mental and potential motor activity is visible and logically unfolded. rešo´s work tell stories or they count on them. We can imagine what has happened before and during the artwork 's origin. The events regarding the artwork also develop after their creation and exhibition. Frešo keeps everything in mind; art is part of the life game.

Frešo´s artwork is usually funny, with a punch line, despite their variable potentiality exactly constructed. Frešo also confidently works in the sphere of postproduction, though he became famous for his objects equipped with various wheels that allowed him to release a playful, nonsensical artistic expression while simultaneously attacking borders of constructive and conceptual work. As an ideal example, the title work at Prague´s exhibition is Václav Havel´s official presidential photograph with a halo. More or less he works and deals with a polysemy. By referring to Havel, Frešo presents a multifaceted, personal reaction on both Havel person, at the time when he was a Czechoslovak politician, and the social connotations related to him – including artistic embalmment. In this connection, I mention that in Prague´s National theatre, just shortly after Havel's death, a rather badly done bronze bust of the well-known playwright and statesman was situated; surrounded by the greatest Czech personalities. The legend under the photography is also worth mentioning because it reads 'President of the Czechoslovak Socialistic Republic' and of course Frešo´s striking 'signature'. Light provocation is a decoration present in art since the time of romanticism; it is natural, gentle, necessary and prolific – even in the case of Frešo´s visual activity.

Martin Dostál