Unframed (Petr Dub, 2010)

At the beginning of 2009, I picked up the threads of my previous artistic work with the UNFRAMED Cycle, its leitmotiv being a simple removal of the basic determinant used for the conventional perception of a hanging painting, i.e. the frame. Using a similar approach, the standard rectangular or square composition is thus removed, which leads to a situation in which the available installation space may be used much more freely, while maintaining the elementary painting means. The wall as a whole, or possibly the overall art gallery layout, becomes a new picture frame. The “picture” itself is created several times: in the form of a sketch, tightening, and – after being removed from the wall – in the form of a trace left after the production process.

Over the last few months, such unspecific and abstract exercise has turned into a need to identify individual motives with strong visual codes. The UNFRAMED Cycle thus gave birth to a graphic torso of the Milka cow, the tongue of St. John of Nepomuk, or a “picture window” in the form of the Šumava Mountains. Moonwalk in the Gallery of Emil Filla, representing saying goodbye to a bitter, yet remarkable legend of the 20th century – Michael Jackson – and last but not least, the DISNEYfication installation associating my childhood memories of the Sistine Chapel with controversial texts of Jean Baudrillard.