About
On June 5th, Hohmann and Grit Development officially unveiled one of David Černý's largest and most famous installations in Palm Springs, the Černý "Babies", The Ten 11' sculptures traveled from Prague, via ship to the US, and are on loan from the artist to the City of Palm Springs for the next 2 years. In typical Černý style, these faceless "Babies" have been met with mixed reviews but have created a stir of conversation nonetheless, (view more about the "Babies" at www.palmspringsbabies.com)
David Černý first gained notoriety in 1991 when he painted a Soviet tank pink as a memorial to war in his native Prague. Since then his artistic acts of civil disobedience, grand scale installations, and exhibitions have continued to incite strong reactions worldwide. In 2005, he participated in the Prague Biennale 2 with his work “Shark” - a riff on fellow artist Damian Hirst, which consisted of an image of Saddam Hussein immersed in a tank of formaldehyde. Famously, in a stance against communism in 2015, Černý installed a 30-foot-tall purple hand on a barge in Prague’s Vltava River raising its middle finger in a “Fuck You” directly in front of the castle where Czech president Milos Zeman lived.
Visitors to the Hohmann booth at CONTEXT Art Miami in 2017, got the first up-close-and-personal glimpse into the mind of notorious provocateur David Černý. Hohmann followed the Miami Art Fair debut by featuring Černý's work here at home in this years ART Palm Springs exhibition with the artists "X-Ray Violin" case with hidden guns, grenades and bullets, seen floating in a resin box, reminiscent of objects seen through the eyes of a security agent commandeering an x-ray machine. Brilliance resides alongside Černý’s rebelliousness in his art. Many recent works were created through the artist’s proprietary and mind-boggling technique of casting three-dimensional objects from everyday life such as guns, tubes, tools, and light bulbs that emerge completely formed yet translucent as if on permanent x-ray. These items are then used in various ways, embedded in polymer resin, to either become subliminal constituents of an overall image, or as singular objects in a composition meant to impart a strong message. Much like the recently installed "Babies" whose faces have been replaced with a bar code stamp to symbolize the dehumanization of society - a very troubling subject to the Czech artist.
Černý is known for his harsh and often crass criticism. It has landed him on the BBC list of the 20 most controversial artworks and in the headlines of many articles. Hohmann is pleased to represent the timeless, controversial works by an artist not afraid to investigate the political climate, war machine, and other social issues of our tumultuous contemporary times.
David Černý in the News:
