Marek Škubal: Prometheus

This bilingual catalogue for Marek Škubal’s Prometheus exhibition in DOX offers an insight into the artist’s work from the last three years, which besides sculptures also features an extensive selection of watercolours. There is a commentary by the exhibition’s curator Otto M. Urban, who is a connoisseur of Škubal’s work, as well as a remarkable interview with the artist by the painter Siegfried Herz, in which Škubal reveals the sources of his inspiration, reflects upon his maturing as an artist, and talks about his ideal working conditions and how he experiences day-to-day reality. Continuing the rhythm of the exhibition, the catalogue is divided into three parts with the titles Sopor, Vanitas and Mythos. In the first two parts the artist works with the time-honoured theme of sleep, falling asleep and dreaming. In his treatment this motif is aligned with depictions of dying, as we slowly go to meet death. “It is for us to decide whether this is the face of a dead man or merely someone asleep. For sleep is death’s brother,” says the curator Otto M. Urban. The third part, Mythos, is closely related to classical mythology and presents a whole pantheon of mythical beings. The catalogue’s conclusion is devoted to the monumental sculpture of Prometheus that has given the exhibition its name.