Czech sculptor David Black

David Black (David Černy) - one of the most famous contemporary Czech sculptor, author of controversial works that combine humor, provocation, social and political satire. His work is immediately apparent, and not leave anyone indifferent. Most of the work of David set in his home city - Prague. His babies crawling on the TV tower visible from almost any part of the city, and the «Piss-Brickyard Gergeti" invariably attracts tourists. At the same time, "Suspended Man" hanging over the roof of a house and it is easy to miss, if you look only at his feet.

David Black was born on December 15, 1967 in Prague a Jewish family. In 1996. He graduated from the Prague Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design. The first work of the Black Sea, caused a public outcry, began painting in pink Soviet tank IS-2, installed on the square Kinsky in Prague's Smíchov in memory of the liberation of Prague by the Red Army in 1945. The action took place on the night of 27 April 28, 1991 . On the roof turret was installed finger in a phallic gesture. According to David Black, his goal was to make fun of the symbolism of a Soviet war memorial that is perceived as a threat to the civilian population by force. Soviet tank in the Czech consciousness associated with the tanks in the streets of Prague during the suppression of the Prague Spring of 1968 and the subsequent "period of Soviet occupation" and is no longer seen as a symbol of liberation from fascism.

Nevertheless, the stock of David Black was perceived by much of the public as an affront to the memory of the liberators of Czechoslovakia in 1945 and caused a storm of indignation, and the artist himself was arrested for disorderly conduct. After a formal protest of the Russian government tank on the square Kinsky was returned to original appearance. However, the fifteen members of parliament in protest against the arrest of the artist repainted the tank back in the pink. In the end, David Black was released, and the tank was removed from its pedestal and transported to the Museum of Military History in Leshan at Tyntsa nad Sazavou. Later, the artist made a proposal to install a pink tank in Prague as a permanent monument, but under pressure from Prime Minister Milos Zeman, and the Russian ambassador Vasily Yakovlev, the Prague City Hall has rejected the project. As a result, a pink tank David Black for some time exhibited in the small resort town Lázně Bohdaneč, where until the 1990s. were the barracks of the Soviet troops stationed in Czechoslovakia.

Thanks to David Black pink tank has been gaining popularity in the Czech Republic. Later, his work has always aroused intense interest, and sometimes even public outrage. Among the most famous works of David Black belongs to, for example, the sculpture "Horse" (1999), depicting St. Wenceslas sitting on the belly of his dead horse, hung by the feet, and ridiculed the reverence with which the people of Prague are the famous monument to the work of Josef Myslbek on Wenceslas area. Originally, the sculpture "Horse" was located in the lower end of Wenceslas Square, the counterpoint to his protitipu, and now it is in the passage "Lucerna" on Vodickova street.

Another striking work is the sculpture of David Black giant babies climbing on the Prague television tower at Žižkov, through which the television tower has become one of the most popular tourist sites in Prague.

Conservative public outrage caused by the work of David Black in 2005 called "The Shark", representing the figure of Saddam Hussein's half-naked associated floating in a glass aquarium filled with yellow-green solution of formaldehyde. This composition won a special prize at the Prague Biennale in 2005 and was a parody of the famous work of Damien Hirst "The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living." In the demonstration, "Sharks" Black double-ban: in Middelkerke, Belgium, and in Bielsko-Biala, Poland.

Among other works of David Black can be identified:

- Installation of "Bones" (1990) (a giant skull and bones under the Stalin monument in Prague);

- Sculpture «Quo vadis» (1990) ("people's" car "Trabant" for human feet on the Old Town Square);

- Unrealized project "The people themselves forever" (2002) (statue of a huge golden onanist belching from time to time fountains pair, which was scheduled to be installed on the roof of the National Theatre in Prague, a parody of the word "nation itself" written above the stage of the National Theatre, which was built at the expense of the funds raised by subscription from all over the Czech Republic in the XIX century);

- Logo «Fuck the KSČM» (2002) (traditional gesture with the middle finger bent, which is stylized cactus with sharp spikes, protest against the participation in the power of the Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia);

- "Bus Stop" (2005) (the present city bus stop in Liberec, stylized giant bronze table set for dinner, which is located under the passenger seat)

- "Suspended Man" (sculpture of Sigmund Freud (some Czechs believe that it is - Lenin), hanging on the one hand on a steel mast);

- Entropy (2009) - a satire on the most common stereotypes about Europe.

Details about each country can read and see here venividi.ru/node/14925

- Installation "Metamorphosis", made in 2007 and established in Charlotte, North Carolina. It represents a human head made of stainless steel with a beating from his mouth a fountain. Sculpture is constantly transformed, controlled by the artist on the Internet.