Michal Cimala: Shift
21 Jan – 7 Mar 2011
Michal Cimala is a distinctive figure on the contemporary Czech art scene. He was born in 1975 in Havířov and graduated at the Academy of Arts, Architecture, and Design in Prague where he was a student in the metal and jewellery studio headed by V. K. Novák. He currently works as assistant in the studio of Jaroslav Róna at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague. Since 2006 he has been a member of the Trafačka art centre at Vysočany in Prague.
He operates on the borders of design and free art, using all sorts of materials and media. He commented on an inspiration he derives from cities and industrial surroundings: “All those sounds and noises that the city emits, the taste or aftertaste of its various districts, are all deeply ingrained in me.” His work combines elements of sculpture, industrial design, painting, drawing, sound and performance. The exhibition at the DOX Centre of Contemporary Art is a selection of his musical objects and cycles of drawings.
a bizarre, fully functional vision of musical instruments, which, among other things, led to the founding of the alternative musical ensemble Roxxxor Vysočany, which performed in the 2001 - 2009 period. In addition to plastic musical objects, Cimala also creates so-called “Snowguitars” – bass guitars sawn out of snowboards. Cimala transfers his interest in dynamic shapes and process mainly to his objects. He has gradually shifted from crude industrial aesthetics to plastics and plexiglass, developing an untraditional method of treating industrial waste. While on a grant-funded internship at Universität der Künst in Berlin he discovered a new material – yellow plastic gas piping. His sculptural experiments with that material led him to design experimental musical instruments. He subsequently attached strings and guitar pickups to his instruments, thereby adding sound effects to his sculptural creations. This has given rise to a bizarre, fully functional vision of musical instruments, which, among other things, led to the founding of the alternative musical ensemble Roxxxor Vysočany, which performed in the 2001 - 2009 period. In addition to plastic musical objects, Cimala also creates so-called “Snowguitars” – bass guitars sawn out of snowboards.
Drawings
The extensive installation of drawings covers the period from 1995 to 2010. Cimala abandoned calm “situations” in favour of fast and deft drawings, and his choice of theme is reminiscent of film or pop dynamic. The themes of “sex”, “situation”, “stress” or “outsiders” have the cogency of diary entries.
A major part of the installation consists of sketches of developmental prototypes of various pieces of apparatus and structures. Cimala’s works on paper employ many techniques, from pen and felt-tip to airbrush.
http://player.vimeo.com/video/18991882
