Prague artist David Cerny: pink tank, hanging statue, crawling babies and more
Posted by happysteps on 10 Oct 2008 | Tagged as: Art & Culture, Czech Republic, Europe |
Would you paint a war tank pink? Maybe not, but controversial Czech artist and sculptor David Cerny did it to a Soviet tank when he was still an art student in 1991. While that tank is now kept in Lešany Military museum, a pink torso of a tank by Cerny was just recently planted on the grounds beside the Justicní Palác in Prague. The white stripe at the center is reminiscent of the invasion of the Soviet tanks in Czechoslovakia in 1968.



Call him weird, creative or what, incidentally he’s also the sculptor of the Viselec or the ‘Hanging Man’ at Jilska Street which I featured in my previous Wordless Wednesday post. The ‘Hanging Man’ is a life-size statue of famous psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud who was born in Moravia, Czech Republic. In 2007, the sculpture was part of art exhibitions held at the Open Concept Gallery in Grand Rapids, Michigan and the Columbia College in Chicago where it was installed high on top and caused alarm among the motorists who thought it was a real man about to take his own life. It has also made its appearance in other art exhibitions in Europe such as Berlin and Stockholm. Now that it’s back home, nobody seems to mind this hanging artwork when we were at the Old Town in Prague.
Another interesting work of Cerny is the crawling babies at the Prague Television Tower.

Photo credits: Prague TV Tower by rainydazeee.com




October 10th, 2008 at 7:30 pm
awesome artist! his works are very unconventional hehe..
October 21st, 2008 at 7:08 pm
He still represents a symbol of a free mind. One of those who didn’t got changed by the Velvet Revolution to accept conformity and a full plate and stop trying… he is still a thorn in the side of many artists-politicians like Knizak, because Cerny is very smart and knows exactly what he is doing and he is not afraid to express it…
October 22nd, 2008 at 11:44 pm
Daisy:
art is another form of self-expression and he did it in his own unique way.
Anita:
yup, even when he was still a student, he was already daring enough to express his views and go against the tide.