ELEGANCE Exhibition – Jan Rapin & Sculptors

The SOCHÁRIUM Gallery is organizing a jubilee exhibition titled ELEGANCE, which, on the occasion of the 70th birthday of painter Jan Rapin, will present the most comprehensive showcase of his work to date at the New Town Hall in Prague 2.

The project will feature a representative selection of the artist's work across different periods of his career, offering insight into the development of his distinctive painterly style in a broader context. The exhibition will be divided into two parts – works from the past ten years will be presented in the ground-floor gallery, while the tower gallery will be arranged by floors into thematic sections. Visitors will pass through the Gentleman's Salon, enter the Gentlemen's Club, find themselves in the Hall of Music and Dance, and also glimpse the artist's studio.

 However, the exhibition will not be solely a solo presentation. The space will be sensitively complemented by selected sculptural works by artists long represented by the gallery – such as Zdeněk Legner, Barbora Fausová, Vítězslav Odstrčil, and others. Their works will enter into a natural dialogue with Rapin's paintings, bringing added vitality to the overall exhibition.

 Exhibition Catalogue

 The catalogue is currently only partially completed and will be gradually expanded until the opening of the exhibition.

 Terms of sale here. 
                                                                                                               

ELEGANCE EXHIBITION
JAN RAPIN – CONTRA TORRENTEM

"Restraint is the sister of talent," wrote a great man once—and he was more than right. I have tried to follow this principle, though not always consciously. To express what I have in mind, modest means are always enough: a few colors, and content. In this way, I believe I come closer to my colleagues who lived and worked several centuries before me.

Today's era is not particularly favorable to art—especially not to art that deliberately diverges from what is called "modern," which often conceals lack of skill behind offensiveness. "Art does not evolve," claimed one of the great painters of the twentieth century. If it did, artists such as Rembrandt or Rubens would long ago have been forgotten. But they have not. It follows that every new practitioner of painting must measure themselves against these masters. And that is what I strive to do.

From the very beginning, I chose the path of the old masters, regardless of modern "isms," and I have remained faithful to it for half a century. Yes, I was born in the middle of the last century, so today I might even be considered something of a museum piece. I have never followed the path of collective presentation, nor have I seen my future in being shielded by a flock of generational companions.

I try to keep in mind that art should uplift, fulfill, give hope, and emphasize the meaningfulness of life—through beautiful artifacts to which viewers will always wish to return. Drawing from my distinctive style, I also strive to embody the notion of elegance referenced in the exhibition's title.

The time when I rejoiced in every new presentation of my work—whether in Prague, Paris, New York, Rome, Oslo, or Antwerp—is long gone. Exhibitions have multiplied, and I can only hope that my work still has something to offer to perceptive viewers. I wish to bring joy and delight through my paintings, if only because there is already more than enough ugliness in the world.

Unfortunately, I am sometimes perceived by my surroundings as a disruptor of modernity and progressive orders—whether by fellow painters or by bureaucrats. And so we return to the title, which reflects the motto of the House of Salm, one of the oldest and most noble aristocratic families in Europe—a motto I feel I may now, after many years of work, rightfully adopt as my own:

Contra torrentem – against the current.