The exhibition Moonlight on My Boat at the White Cube will be presented by the artist Jan Pražan. He is presenting primarily paintings from the last few years, as well as prints that build on his recent series of tarot archetypes. The exhibition also includes an object composed of woodcut printing plates.

Jan Pražan’s work raises questions that painters have been asking themselves at least since the Romantic era. How should we understand the “spiritual” awe inspired by the landscape? Can one arrive at some “deeper” understanding through it? And can we take these experiences seriously, without quotation marks, or will they never shake off a hint of suspicious esotericism?

While landscape painters of past centuries could perceive the grandeur of untamed nature, today this feeling is fading. Unreachable peaks have become stops along hiking trails, and rugged cliffs have turned into beach resorts. Enlightenment can no longer be achieved through a mere outing. Perhaps that is why, in recent years, a resident of Prague has been consistently participating in eco-art therapy training in Bohemian Switzerland.

The connection between the landscape and spiritual tradition is mutual. After all, the crucifixion of Christ itself took place outdoors, on Mount Golgotha. That is why, for this exhibition, we have selected from the gallery’s collections the relief The Crucifixion (1911–1912) by Josef Váchal, who was a true soul-searcher of nature and was able to artfully interweave spiritual and landscape elements.

The interior of the White Cube is subtly stylized to resemble a temple with a reliquary, which houses Váchal’s Crucifixion. We hope it will prompt viewers to reflect on the intertwining of landscape and spiritual space. In the words of Jan Pražan: “When I walk through the landscape, I become aware of the connection between consciousness and its reflection in the reality of nature. The forest, the field, and the landscape correspond to my inner state.”

In the exhibition Moonlight on My Boat, he presents primarily paintings from the last few years, as well as prints that build on his recent series of tarot archetypes. The exhibition also includes an object composed of woodcut printing plates. Archetypal themes are also reflected in his paintings, often in combination with landscapes. The overarching theme of the exhibition is the journey—both on a personal, inner level (a sense of groping in the dark) and on a cosmic scale, in which a person almost disappears. Pražan further explores and systematizes these reflections through his studies in art therapy linked to Bill Plotkin’s ecopsychology at the Eko Art Institute in the Elbe Sandstone Mountains near Děčín.

Jan Pražan (*1979) is a painter and graphic artist. From 2006 to 2012, he studied at the Faculty of Fine Arts at Brno University of Technology in the Painting II studio led by Martin Mainer and Luděk Rathouský. He has participated in painting residencies in the Czech Republic and abroad (India, Spain). Currently, in addition to his independent artistic practice, he is involved in art-based and art-therapeutic educational activities. He has long been engaged with themes related to the perception of the natural, material, and spiritual worlds. He relates to his surroundings, to places in the landscape, but also to larger cosmological entities. He draws inspiration from history and the traditions of indigenous, nature-oriented cultures, as well as from Eastern philosophy and psychology. In recent years, he has also been exploring printmaking techniques, particularly linocut.

curator: Tomáš Kolich