Blue Mauritius, FIRMA

The emergence of the FIRMA artistic group is as unique on the art scene as the Blue Mauritius, the most famous philatelic artifact, after which this exhibition and the central collaborative painting are symbolically named. The almost monochrome black-white-blue colossus composed of six canvases, on which all seven artists participated, is the point of the exhibition and leaves the viewer with a slightly open door to a glimpse into the artistic group’s work process.

The painting plays out a captivating scene in which the individual handwritings of all participating artists can be clearly recognized. They were not drawn under the wing of the artistic group by a preference for a particular painting style, but by their opinion on the conditions of contemporary artistic practice. With the chosen name “FIRMA”, they do not want to simply demonstrate the commercialization of the artistic environment, but rather to clarify the artist’s position in contemporary society; in order to be able to appear publicly, he had to give up the romanticized position of an artist-philosopher debating the state of today’s society. Instead, he became his own PR manager, coordinator, fundraiser and often also a theorist and installation technician. Instead of pondering social events, criticising them or humanising them, he had to start a business. In order for artists to find a common platform for reflection on art, they were forced to establish a (F)irma and instead of philosophising, they work. The debate about art does not take place during a passionate conversation in the First Republic atmosphere of the Slavia café, but while working on a joint work. The monochromatic tuning of the paintings, which echoes from the main exhibition hall, is a contract between the artists about a common “space-time” for the implementation of the artistic debate.

„We are very pleased that KodlContemporary could be the main partner of the exhibition.“ Jakub Kodl, co-founder and owner of KodlContemporary