Modrásci na niti

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

Jakub Špaňhel has long been an established artist on the Czech painting scene. His work is based on traditional iconographic themes and brilliantly mastered painting techniques, particularly rapid action painting and gestural brushstrokes. Špaňhel studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague in the studio of Jiří David and Milan Knížák, and even during his studies he was recognized as an extraordinary talent. It was at that time that he began exploring his now famous theme of Gothic cathedral interiors, which he continues to this day. He has also systematically developed motifs of landscapes, flowers, nudes, portraits, and historical furniture, among many other things. In addition to this approach, he also works with a more reductive style, which tends toward a monochromatic palette. Using a paint roller and stencils, he places simple, repetitive motifs. In both cases, he uses a reduced form to approach the essence of the objects. The painting Modrásci na niti (Blue Butterflies on a String) falls within the artist’s line of fast-paced action painting. It is a gentle, delicate work, part of a wide range of different butterflies that the artist has depicted in the past. As a young boy, Špaňhel was interested in entomology, and he collected and painted butterflies. He revived this interest after the birth of his own children, when, in his words, he felt the need to paint something gentle that would at the same time take him back to his own childhood. The painting is thus a deeply intimate painterly expression.