HARD CORE + LOBOTOMY = 20 / 20 - Václava Špála Gallery by Julius Reichel 1.9.2023 - 15.10.2023Curator: Radek Wohlmuth

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Mathematics defines an equation as a relation of equality between two expressions that contain one or more variables...

And it is a strange equation measuring the sum of a phrase with a numeral that this time introduces Julius Reichel's new exhibition. As at any other time, it is a code of meaning that can serve as a key to reading his recent works. It is not a literal guide, of course, but rather a reference. While these may have a metaphorical content directed more towards emotion or free associative chaining, they nevertheless contain specific information as part of their DNA and are the resultant reaction to the current state of affairs and current feeling in life.

Hard Core, according to wikipedia, refers to a specific style of punk at the border of metal. It is characterized primarily by aggressive vocals, fast tempo and lyrics that often respond to social and political issues such as anti-fascism, the environment or feminism. Lobotomy, by contrast, refers to the infamous psychosurgery on the brain, the tragic consequences and potential for abuse of which were so convincingly demonstrated in Forman's 1975 film One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. The sum of these terms, according to Reichel, puts together the guillotine-slash-broken year 2020, the year when the whole world was gripped by the almost medieval panic of the pandemic of Covid-19, which gradually transformed and totally relativized the perception of virtually all reality. Its consequences, hypertrophied by the subsequent economic and political upheavals, intensified the apocalyptic tension, which is still clearly felt today.

It is these factors that most accelerate Julius Reichel's current visual language, which also divides his contemporary work between pictorial and spatial schemes. His 2D-objects are accompanied by an attempt to simplify as much as possible. This is matched by both the material, which is limited to recycled planks and second-hand textiles, and the form of lobotomized figuration, in which the emoticon with a fake smile represents the totality of the limits of general dementia. Julius Reichel's use of wood continues the line of his earlier interventions in public space. It is not surface-treated, the colours are replaced by an acknowledged patina, preserved by a layer of varnish, which preserves time in the second plan as well as the action of natural processes. The elementary figurative morphology oscillates between the flattened emotions of the smileys and the absurdity of Mr. Egg from the black and white foregrounds of socialist advertising Dadaism. In his works, Reichel leaves only what he deems necessary. It's a construction game with a tendency to constantly reduce, using the knitting as a drawing grid, the contour line of a simple illustration or a grid materializing into a head.

Painted images seem to be the opposite of sculptures, mainly because they follow the path of constant "folding" of the initial situation. They are homogeneous brutalist "pointillist" surfaces created mainly by spray paint. Unlike the older canvases, they no longer work with fine texture, writing or links to cultural memes. These, however, are often the basis of their first layer. Depth is determined by the contrast of foreground and background and the unregulated swarming of dots that also sculpt the surface. Since several paintings are always created at once, this is also a certain way of thinking about seriality and automatism for Julius Reichel - who also demonstrates with this project his desire to constantly discover and change his approach and expression. Intuition and emotion come into play to a greater extent, while the rational decision-making centre is switched off. The layers together compose a story that is impossible to decipher. In the end, what remains is the moment when the author steps out of the picture, and it becomes what it is at that moment. Hence the titles Pineapple, Chicken, Snakes, Woman, Horse, Hippopotamus, but it also produced Reichel's first ever self-portrait. And the feeling that underneath it all there was something else....

– Radek Wohlmuth