Galerist Sklenář is taking Grygar to China and preparing a gallery there

Prague - The exhibition of Czech artist Milan Grygar at the Chinese Museum of Contemporary Art will be opened on Sunday by Prague gallerist Zdeněk Sklenář. He has previously organized three exhibitions at the National Gallery there and plans to open his own gallery in the city in the autumn. He sees a continuously growing potential in China, both among the audience and local artists.
     Zdeněk Sklenář penetrated into China with his exhibition activities in 2005 when he exhibited a book with reproduced drawings by František Kupka in exclusive execution according to the tradition of Chinese book culture at the National Art Museum of China (NAMOC) in Beijing. At that time, he said that it was a pity that Czech art was not being exhibited in China, as countries are competing for this opportunity today; he decided to change that.
     "I have traveled to China ninety times already and will continue to go there," the gallerist told ČTK ahead of his next "Chinese" exhibition. Initially, China attracted him as a traditional culture, and later this fulfilled dream became connected with his profession. China continues to fascinate him, and he wants to present Czech art to the local people, gallerists, and collectors.
     After the first exhibition of Kupka's works, Sklenář exhibited drawings and paintings by Czech painter Zdeněk Sklenář (1910 to 1986), his uncle, whose inspiration for a lifelong engagement with Chinese art and residency in China in the 1950s had a profound impact on him, three years ago in the same institution. The most recent exhibition by the younger Sklenář was the one that ended last week featuring works by Bohuslav Reynek titled Czech Modern Recluse; on Sunday, he will open the exhibition Milan Grygar - Light, Sound, Movement at the Today Art Museum.
     The culmination of Sklenář's activities so far is to be the Czech China Contemporary (CCC) gallery in Beijing. "Czechs will be able to present their art there, and there will also be the possibility to organize residency stays," he plans.
     The CCC gallery was established at the initiative of the Straka couple. Jiří Straka is a Czech painter and sinologist who has lived in China for a long time, and his wife, Kchun-jing Straková, is a gallerist. CCC has grown in a district where galleries representing Western countries and artists are being established; currently, there are over three hundred museums and galleries in the area. CCC includes two floors of galleries and a space for residency stays, with the Strakas planning to occupy the upper floor.
     The building in Beijing was designed by architect Zdeněk Fránek and is his first foreign realization. The reinforced concrete skeleton is clad with dark gray bricks typical of China. The frontal wall of the building is curved and is meant to resemble a lotus flower. In the middle of a smooth wall, there is an opening that, according to feng shui teachings, symbolizes joy, happiness, and the flow of money. In one of the atriums, a zen garden with a fountain is being created according to a design by Václav Cigler.