Aleš Růžička
* 1977
These days it seems like an anachronism to be occu pied with landscape painting. Urban people perceive nature as a piece of luxury they can afford on weekends at best. They glamorize it as an oasis of peace that we dreamt up as Claude Lorrain did his Arcadia. It is not by coincidence that the walls of hospital waiting rooms are lined with winter land scapes and that the Czech politicians cuddle trees. The popular belief is that nature is a tranquilli zer. Apart from landscapists who merely copy the beauty of nature, there are artists who use a segment of landscape as a matrix to imprint their battered ego in. This tradition of landscape painting, with Caspar David Friedrich as its guru, is considerably livelier. Anselm Kiefer, Peter Doig and David Hockney are among those who perio dically build on the legacy of German romanticism. In the case of Aleš Růžička (1977) whose last name translates "Rose" we can talk predestination as well as genetic pre-dispositions (he represents the fourth generation of South Bohemian landsca pists founded by his great- grandfather Alois who used to frame the pictures of Jan Zrzavý). A competition known as "The Most Beautiful Balcony" that takes place in his native town of Bechyně has also an indispensable influence on his creation. His mother Jiřina has won it for many successive years.
Aleš Růžička is a landscapist-cataloguer. He has a method of his own. He keeps records of the landsca pe and his range narrows down all the time. His obsession with flora is obvious from the beginning. He gradually transferred it from the exterior to the interior. He substituted flowers blossoming in the wild with interior decoration and moved from landscape to another traditional genre - still life. Being fully aware of the limited options of a grower, in his paintings he started to preserve things predestined to decay. A dried up ficus became an adequate equivalent of baroque vanitas. Unlike old masters, Aleš Růžička does not reproduce reality, he conceives it.
Solo Exhibitions
2013 Gallery BudoArt, „LOJZOVA VĚC/ LOJZA’S THINK“ (with Šárka Růžičková Zadáková), Prague
2013 School of Secondary Art, „NATURA MORTA“ (with Šárka Růžičková Zadáková), Bechyně
2012 Gallery of Felix Jenewein, „VANITAS“, Kutná Hora
2011 Gallery Laboratorio, „CREP´N´ROLL“, Prague
2011 Gallery Dolmen, „STÁLE ŽIVÉ“ / STILL LIFE, Prague
2009 Gallery Nová síň, „ROSA DOLOROSUS“, Prague
2008 Galerie of Academy of Fine Arts, „VOLÁNÍ PŘÍRODY“ / CALL OF NATURE, Prague
2007 Art House, „OBRAZY / PAINTINGS 1997 – 2007“, Zlín
2006 Cafe Therapy, „ZAHRADNÍKOVO JARO“ / SPRING GARDENER, Prague
2006 Gallery Dinitz – „PARK“, Prague
2005 Aleš South Bohemian Gallery, Wortner House „VE VLASTNÍ ŠŤÁVĚ“ / IN ITS OWN JUICE, České Budějovice
2005 Gallery XXL, „SPOLU“ / TOGETHER (with Šárka Zadáková), Louny
2004 Macromolekular Institute, Academy of Sciences – „VÝJEVY MÉHO NADRŽENÍ“ / SCENES OF MY HORNY, Prague
2004 Gallery Doubner, „SVATBA“ / WEDDING (with Šárka Zadáková), Prague
2004 Theatre Damúza, „ZAHRADNÍK“ / GARDENER, Prague
2003 Theatre Alfréd ve dvoře, „NAHOŘE“ / UPSTAIRS, Prague
Group Exhibitions
2013 Clam-Gallas Palace, „V UMĚNÍ VOLNOST/ IN ART THERE IS A FREEDOM“, Prague
2013 Zámecká jízdárna, „UVNITŘ BAREV/ INSIDE A COLOURS“, Litomyšl
2013 House of Art, „VIDÍM, TEDY JSEM/ I SEE, THEREFORE I AM“, Znojmo
2013 František Drtikol Gallery, „DOMA/ AT HOME“, Příbram
2011 Gallery Kartografie, "TERRA (Non)FIRMA", Prague
2010 Municipal Museum of Fine Arts, „POCTA BOHUSLAVU REYNKOVI“ / BOHUSLAV REYNEK TRIBUTE, Havlíčkův Brod
2009 North Gallery of Fine Arts, “VĚČNÁ POMÍJIVOST” / ETERNAL TRANSIENCE, Litoměřice
2009 Gallery Vltavín, “Mini UB”, Prague
2009 Roma, Czech Centre, Via Costabella – „CO TO ZNAMENÁ…? / WHAT DOES IT MEAN?
2009 „AUTOPORTRÉT V ČESKÉM UMĚNÍ 20. a 21. STOLETÍ“ / SELF-PORTRAIT IN CZECH ART OF THE 20th and 21 CENTURY, Hradec Králové
2008 Art House, „V. NOVÝ ZLÍNSKÝ SALON“, Zlín
2008 AJG- „AUTOPORTRÉT V ČESKÉM UMĚNÍ 20. a 21. STOLETÍ“ / SELF-PORTRAIT IN CZECH ART OF THE 20th and 21 CENTURY, Hluboká nad Vltavou
2008 Gallery of Felix Jenewein, „VIII. SYMPOZIUM SOUČASNÉHO VÝTVARNÉHO UMĚNÍ“ / VIII. Symposium Contemporary Art, Kutná Hora
2007 INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM OF PAINTING, participation of the Czech Republic, BiH
2006 Art House,.4.ZLÍNSKÝ SALON MLADÝCH / 4.th ZLÍN YOUTH SALON, Zlín
2004 Gallery Doubner, Prague
2003 Art House, 3.ZLÍNSKÝ SALON MLADÝCH / 3.rd ZLÍN YOUTH SALON, Zlín
2002 Gallery Rozehnal, Prague
2002 National Gallery Veletržní palác – „DIPLOMANTI AVU“ / GRADUATES AFA 2002, Prague
Representation in collections
Contemporary Collections,, National Gallery in Prague
Contemporary Collections, KGVU in Zlín
Collection of Gallery of Felix Jenewein in Kutná Hora
Collection of Jajce, BiH
Private collections in the Czech Republic and abroad
