luboš plný
in materia delicata
The Latin title Materia delicata may be translated as ‘delicate’, ‘sensitive’ or ‘fragile matter’. This multiplicity of meanings precisely captures the essence of Plný’s practice. The material of his works is drawn from what is most vulnerable and, at the same time, most fundamental to us—our own corporeality, memory, everyday experience, transience and human identity.
For Luboš Plný, drawing is a means of exploration and understanding. It serves not merely to depict reality, but becomes a way of examining it. Anatomical studies, diary entries, texts, numbers and stamps form a visual system in which every element has its own place and significance. Collage plays an equally important role, bringing together drawing, photography, anatomical illustrations and handwritten notes to create new constellations of meaning.
The other works on display likewise reveal how Plný transforms personal experience into a visual language that can be universally understood. Anatomy, corporeality and everyday rituals are not ends in themselves in his work. Rather, they serve as means of reflecting on human identity, mortality and the relationship between body and consciousness.
Luboš Plný’s international recognition was firmly established in 2017, when he was selected for the 57th Venice Biennale. The first Art Brut artist to be acquired by the Musée National d’Art Moderne (MNAM) in 2013, he has since been the subject of exhibitions at the contemporary art museums of Kobe and Hiroshima, the Kunsthalle Dresden, and in his native Prague, where the Rudolfinum, notably, brought his work into dialogue with artists such as Louise Bourgeois and William Kentridge in 2022. In September 2023, we dedicated a solo exhibition to him across both our spaces, published a monograph, and presented a performance at the École des Beaux-Arts de Paris.