Benedikt Tolar: Recycling and humor. This is shown by the Pilsen City Gallery: Pilsen

The Pilsen City Gallery presents the work of Benedikt Tolar. It shows that the basis of his work is above all recycling, to which ecological thinking has been added, as well as Tolar’s quirky humor, with which he critically reacts to the present. The exhibition entitled Benedikt Tolar – roof reconstruction prepared by curator Kristýna Jirátová a lasts until June 2, 2024.

Photo: Pilsen City Gallery / M. Chaloupka

“There are not many sculptors in the Czech Republic, and even fewer really good ones. We have one of them in Pilsen, and the Pilsen City Gallery presents his work. Benedikt Tolar leads the Sculpture and Space studio at the Ladislav Sutnar Faculty of Design and Art of the University of West Bohemia in Pilsen. His works can be seen in public spaces and in private collections, not only here, but also abroad. It is known to the Pilsen public mainly thanks to the artistic activity in the creative area DEPO2015, which also houses the GAFA faculty gallery,” said, among other things, at the opening of the exhibition, which took place on April 11, 2024, the councilor of the city of Pilsen for culture and heritage preservation Eliška Bartáková.

Benedikt Tolar himself says: The sound of the flex and the eccentric sander is a meditation for me, such a long drawn-out om…” However, he adds his creative creativity, which comes from constant observation of reality. “In things that an ordinary person passes by without noticing, he already observes future artifacts in advance,” reminded curator Kristýna Jirátová. “By connecting seemingly incompatible things, they create – often even for themselves – unexpected contexts. The resulting theme usually depends on the material itself, its properties, shape, color. The artist often loses control over the creation of the work, on the contrary, it is the material that controls its author in this case,” she added, adding that Tolar’s entire work works with the principle of more or less controlled chance. The artist accumulates things found or acquired at the scrap yard in his studio, where Duchamp ready-made objects are subsequently created under his hands. He is fascinated by the rawness of objects, often trying to preserve their original form as much as possible. But at the same time, he works with complex, artisanal and technically excellent procedures.

The title of the exhibitions refers to the main content of the exhibition and the car roof as one of the fundamental themes of Tolar’s entire work, but also to the artist’s current situation, when due to the repair of the roof he will have to move out of his studio filled to the brim. The exhibition presents both older and completely current works.

Benedikt Tolar (*1975 in Pilsen), whose greatest inspiration in his artistic development was the sculptor Jindřich Zeithamml, studied at the Prague Academy of Fine Arts in the studios of Karel Nepraš and Vladimír Skrepl. His work is represented in the National Gallery in Prague, the West Bohemian Gallery in Pilsen and the Klatovy/Klenová Gallery, as well as in private Czech and foreign collections. He exhibits at home and abroad, regularly participates in public art festivals. He is the head of the Sculpture and Space studio at the Ladislav Sutnar Faculty of Design and Art of the University of West Bohemia in Pilsen.

An accompanying program has been prepared for the exhibition in the Pilsen City Gallery. On the so-called free Sunday, i.e. May 5, when admission is free, an art workshop is held from 1 to 5 p.m. On Wednesday, May 8, from 4 p.m., there is a guided tour of the exhibition together with the author and the curator. And on the last day of May, May 31, Museum Night takes place, from 4 to 10 p.m. admission is free.

Text editing: Hana Josefová