MICHAL KALHOUS

Dumpling, schnapps, tablecloth. A burnt rectangle on the lawn, an empty paper plate, or a sausage on a string. Large grey enlargements and humor as dry as an August meadow. Michal Kalhous speaks his own language. This applies both visually and semantically, as by capturing his immediate surroundings and the most ordinary motifs with proverbial exaggeration, he tells small and large life stories. His exclusively black-and-white analog photographic series are deliberately technologically sloppy and bring uncertainty as well as visual calm, which in an era characterized by an overwhelming abundance of information gains even more value. His work is primarily associated with the specific concept of "Czech non-photography." Along with the creative duo Lukáš Jasanský – Martin Polák and Alena Kotzmannová, Michal Kalhous is one of the most significant domestic representatives of this direction. Michal Kalhous (*1967) currently serves as the Dean of the Faculty of Arts at the University of Ostrava. He studied at the Faculty of Science at Palacký University in Olomouc, and completed his doctoral studies at the Faculty of Art and Design UJEP in Ústí nad Labem, in the field of visual communication. He has exhibited in prestigious Czech galleries such as PLATO Ostrava or Fait Gallery in Brno, as well as abroad, for example, at London College in England.