Jan Dočekal | Surrealism & Stir up group

The Stir up group was established in the Czech Republic in 1995. It continued the tradition of the surrealist group Lacoste and the Karel Teige´s Society.

Active members of the Stir up in the present era are: spiritual leader Václav Pajurek, art historian and artist, Pavel Bezděčka, Josef Bubeník, Arnošt Budík (lives in Brussels, Belgium), Jan Dočekal, Linda Filipová, Martin Hronza, Lubomir Kerndl, Gabriela Kopcová, Vladimir Kubicek, Zdenek Piza, Josef Quis, Ondrej Vorel. In recent years, the work of three deceased members of the group - Zdeněk Cibulka (1960-2013), Josef Kremláček (1937-2015, co-founder of the Lacoste group) and Jan Wolf (1941-2016) has been completed.

Confirming the surrealist attitude to reality is a matter of course for Stir up members. These are some uncompromising principles. They are - anti-clericalism, anti-communism, rejection of commerce and awards and prizes of all kinds. The creation of the members of Stir up is characterized by psychic automatism as well as an internal model, with the necessity of abundant imagination. A very important component of creation is the principle of chance, from which unforeseen images are revealed. The group publishes the Styxus newsletter. In it, members have the opportunity to present reproductions of their works as well as ideas related to creation.

 The English name of the group Stir up has more meanings: wake up, kindle, stir up, outrage. Yes. Awakening, igniting, stirring and outraging. All of this, the Stir up surrealists would like to achieve with their works. In the present, however, this is a big and difficult task in the Czech Republic. There is a passion in society for the greatest possible consumption. There is not much interest in art in all its different forms.

Official sociological statistics indicate that only one per mille of residents seek continuous contact with creative culture. And an equally small portion of the public consistently exhibits lessons and distinctiveness for the inner reception of art forms and their direction. Therefore, in the current situation of the Czech Republic there is a doubt about the possibilities of influential influence of Surrealism.

Thus, the surrealistic tendency of the need for a continuous revolution of the spirit of man is more of an ideological intention than the reality attained. Despite this, surrealism is a continually vivid way of creative expression by numerous artists, painters, graphic artists and sculptors. He finds new adepts. Sigmund Freud's words about culture are still valid: It is not here to allow us to forget reality, but to make reality for us greater. Greater reality, surreality.

Stir up has its permanent gallery. It's called Devil's Tail. It occupies three floors of a former water mill in a beautiful natural environment on the lower reach of the Jihlava River near the town of Třebíč. The gallery is administered by Stir up Lubomír Kerndl, painter, sculptor, poet, polygraph.

Surrealists from abroad exhibited as guests in the Devil's Tail Gallery and at exhibitions of the group in other places in the Czech Republic: Eva Garcia (Argentina), Miguel Lohlé (Argentina), Walter De Rycke (Belgium), Henri Lejeune (Belgium), Thomas Rayner (Belgium) Heloisa Pessoa (Brazil), Noël Arnaud (France), Jean-Martin Bonteux (France), Aurélien Dauguet (France), Adrien Dax (France), Jorge Herrera Fuentealba (Chile), Fredy Flores Knistoff (Chile), Leal Labrin (Chile) Chile), Kathleen Fox (South

Africa), Amirah Gazel (Costa Rica), Rik Lina (Netherlands), Miguel de Carvalho (Portugal), Artur do Cruzeiro Seixas (Portugal), Fernando H. Garcia Diaz (Uruguay), Sasha Vlad (USA), Tony Pusey (United Kingdom), John W. Welson (United Kingdom).

Thirty years ago, Czech writer Ladislav Fuks wrote: We are rich with our dreams. Religion typical for contemporary surrealists in the Czech Republic. Their free creation on a wave of dreams is certainly their widest platform of creative work. The Stir up group has so far held a number of thematic exhibitions, most of which have been reprinted in more places in the Czech Republic, and abroad most frequently in Brussels, Belgium.

Titles of some of the exhibited collections: Hommage á Cassanova, Subversion de l´Imposible, Part of Fire, Kinship is Inherited, Foggy Mirror, On the Storm Retina, Star with Three Crystals, Hommage á Sigmund Freud, Light Fires, Evocation, Hommage á Miguel de Carvalho, Mystery of the Initiated, Memento mori, Black humor, Shadows of the forgotten watches, We are all made of love, Restless Dreams, Chaos of the Seventh Dimension.

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Agulha Revista de Cultura

UMA AGULHA NO MUNDO INTEIRO

Número 149 | Janeiro de 2020

Artista convidado: Lubomír Kerndl (República Checa, 1954)

Editor convidado: Jan Dočekal

Número especial dedicado ao Surrealismo na República Checa

editor geral | FLORIANO MARTINS | floriano.agulha@gmail.com

editor assistente | MÁRCIO SIMÕES | mxsimoes@hotmail.com

logo & design | FLORIANO MARTINS

revisão de textos & difusão | FLORIANO MARTINS | MÁRCIO SIMÕES

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