<Muzeum Kampa prepared a tribute to Aleš Veselý</Muzeum Kampa>

Prague - Works from the museum's collection supplemented by several artifacts from private collections and a set of four objects that have not yet been exhibited in Prague make up a tribute to Aleš Veselý. It began today at the Kampa Museum under the subtitle Without a Beginning, Without an End and aims to commemorate the personality and work of a significant Czech sculptor who passed away in December of last year. It will last until February 28.

The exhibition's name aligns with a series of shows the artist prepared in the autumn of last year on the occasion of his 80th birthday. In short, it presents works that represent the thematic areas of his distinctive and conceptually concentrated creation.

"In his extensive work, he was guided by feeling and intuition, always seeking the most appropriate way to express his messages. He knew that without subjective engagement, one cannot touch the essential and universal. Therefore, he purposefully delved into the depths of historical memory - to the roots of our civilization and to archetypes," says the exhibition's author Mahulena Nešlehová.

The selection of works encompasses the period from the 1960s to the present. It draws from the Kampa Museum's collection and sporadically enriches it with several pieces from private collections, the Regional Gallery of Liberec, and the property of the town of Mikulov. Visitors will see assemblages and objects from the 1960s to the 1980s, a unique series of blind prints from the mid-1960s, drawings and studies of sculptures, as well as large, expressively rendered "drawing-paintings" from the mid-1980s.

A recently unexhibited project of four objects by Veselý created in 2012 at a symposium in Mikulov serves as a reminder of his last years of work in Prague. Through the reflective effect of stainless steel surfaces and their arrangement, the viewer enters a whirlpool of endlessly changing spatial exchanges and possible touches. This allows them to glimpse the intention with which the artist has recently engaged. It pertains to the relationship between man and the universe - to its order, immeasurability, and elusiveness.

Veselý's work and his relationship to the world are further illuminated for visitors through the artist's reflections related to the pieces.