MAAPPA LIV

70% of the hammer price is allocated to support the non-profit foundation Spolu s odvahou, a member of the Bátor Tábor Family.

Matěj Hošek—a.k.a. Maatty—is a young artist whose inner world is strongly influenced by the creation and analysis of maps and public transport diagrams. He speaks openly about his life with autism spectrum disorder, and maps are not only the basis of his artistic expression but also part of his inner orientation in the world. Mapping and visualizing relationships, connections, and temporal sequences is one of the basic methods that can help people on the autism spectrum cope with everyday events. Maatty began transferring his ideas to paper and creating both real and fictional maps and transportation plans, which he then modified according to his aesthetic sensibilities. With the gradual schematization of his drawings, he moved on to purely abstract expressions. Maatty’s method of working can be loosely associated with what we call art brut, an artistic expression by people who, for the most part, have no formal training (Maatty, however, is studying printmaking in college) and whose work stems from an inner need, is often therapeutic in nature, and falls outside the structures and trends of the art world. The canvas MAAPPA LIV is a focused abstract painting in which the inspiration from maps and transport plans is still evident, yet it significantly departs from them. The work is part of an extensive series of stylized plans that the artist has been varying and developing over a long period of time. Maatty is gradually integrating himself into the artistic community with these works, not only through his use of canvas and acrylic and his shift to purely abstract paintings but also through his repeated participation in public auctions.