Wannieck Gallery changed its name, now it is named after Adam

Brno - The Brno Wannieck Gallery has changed its name to Richard Adam Gallery. From today, it bears the name of its artistic director, the significant collector of Czech painting Richard Adam. The gallery is located in a former factory between the railway and bus stations and is one of the largest institutions in the Czech Republic dedicated to modern art. More than 6,000 people visit it annually. The change was announced by the gallery in a press release today.
    According to director Petra Lekešová, the curators have been considering the new name for a long time. They wanted to pay tribute to Adam and were also bothered by the similarity with the neighboring shopping center Vaňkovka. "By changing the name, we clearly distinguish ourselves and make it easier for lovers of contemporary art to find their way to our Mecca," Lekešová stated.
    The renaming is associated with the project Starting from Adam, in which Richard Adam Gallery aims to introduce the public not only to its art collection but also to the person who contributed the most to it. The collection comprises approximately 1,500 works created from the 1980s to the present. It includes works by artists such as Jan Merta, Josef Bolf, Vladimír Skrepl, Jiří Černický, Jiří David, Zdeněk Sýkora, and Václav Boštík.
    Adam purchased paintings for 20 years from his regular salary and stored them in a studio apartment in a panel building in Prague. Later, the collection found its place in Brno. "Discovering new talents and buying paintings is a passion for me that fortunately I can continue, even though it is much more financially demanding nowadays," Adam stated in the press release.
    At the beginning of this year, the gallery, which has two smaller exhibition halls in addition to the main space, found itself in a dispute with the city hall over unpaid rent. It faced eviction from its current location. The dispute was eventually resolved. Many artists and art theorists stood up for the gallery.