Spirit of the East in the West

Jiří Černický is one of the most distinctive artists on the Czech scene. As a longtime teacher in the Studio of Fine Arts II (previously the Painting Studio) at Prague’s UMPRUM, he has mentored an entire generation of young artists. He himself has been active since the late 1980s as one of the most notable artists of his generation, a fact confirmed by, among other things, his receipt of the 1998 Jindřich Chalupecký Award as well as a host of other accolades. Černický works across various media, with an oeuvre characterized by strong personal engagement, ironic humor, acerbic social criticism, and a sensitive animosity toward the world around us and its rules. He works with installation, sculpture, objects, video, painting, and performance, often pushing the boundaries of physical and mental possibilities. His well-known performance Spirit of the East in the West is based on the story of an Afghan woman whose husband tore up her last dress in a fit of rage, leaving her to starve at home. Černický imagined that her children found a torn American flag on the street and brought it home as material for a new burka. The flag was sewn and patched so that it would be as unrecognizable as possible. Wearing this garment, the artist went to a market in Rotterdam, Netherlands, where goods are sold primarily by Muslim merchants, and despite the outrage he provoked, he purchased various groceries. He then began selling them illicitly on a patch of ground marked with a sign stating that the proceeds would be used to support the US economy. This ambivalent work—based on the paradoxical combination of two incongruous symbols and their stereotyping—is offered in the auction in the form of two digitally printed photographs.

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