The theme of this installation is the place itself, its genius loci and the people who help to create it, and the reasons for gathering at an exhibition opening as an ambiguous situation. A night image of the courtyard of the Školská 28 Gallery apears on a board and is surrounded by the dark silhouettes of figures painted on the wall. The installation also includes site-specific comics in the form of the coutryard floorplan, together with typical art-opening dialogue.
Matěj Lipavský is a painter and illustrator who studied at the Prague Academy of Fine Arts. He lives and works in Prague. The theme of his paintings is the atmosphere of light. His drawings are based on street stencils that emphasize light that recalls scenes from a film noir. Working in comics interests him for its possibility of applying filmic (rhythmic) techniques, with the possibility of forms that develop through reading linear-time narratives, and the possibilities of verbal description not used in painting.
In 2011 Lipavský completed work on the graphic novella Chyba / in cooperation with Pure Beauty /, which was released by the publishing house Lipnik. Its theme is smuggling and trade in rare and critically endangered plant species. In the story, Christopher Warjaka, a collector of orchids and a capable smuggler, decides to accept the offer of a rich Russian collector and steals a rare Japanese flower that officially became extinct long ago. This theft unwittingly invokes an ancient curse, that hangs over the plant and its owner’s house.
