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David Černý is a Czech sculptor and artist. Černý pursued his studies at the Academy of Applied Arts in Prague from 1988 to 1996. During this time, his talent garnered recognition, and in 1990, he was awarded the Special Prize at the Biennale of Kortrijk in Belgium. Four years later, in 1994, he ventured to New York, where he served as an artist in residence at the PS1 gallery. Displaying his commitment to fostering contemporary art, in 2001, he established Meetfactory, a non-profit international center dedicated to contemporary artistic expression. More recently, in 2017, he embarked on a new venture with Black n’ Arch, an architectural studio renowned for its innovative approaches to architecture and design. In addition to his notable achievements in the realm of visual arts, David Černý actively engages in various creative domains, including theatre, cinema, music, design, and architecture.
Some of his well-known sculptures in Prague include the “Crawling Babies” on the pillars of the TV Tower and “Metalmorphosis,” the head of Franz Kafka consisting of 42 rotating layers, which rises 11 meters high.
David Černý is a Czech sculptor and artist. Some of his well-known sculptures in Prague include the “Crawling Babies” on the pillars of the TV Tower and “Metalmorphosis,” the head of Franz Kafka consisting of 42 rotating layers, which rises 11 meters high.
Also created by Černý is the sculpture “Quo Vadis,” depicting a Trabant with four legs. With this sculpture, Černý paid tribute to the events of September 1989 when thousands of East German citizens fled to the German Embassy in Prague, leaving their Trabants behind. The original of the sculpture is now housed in the collection of the Contemporary History Forum Leipzig, while a copy stands in the park of the German Embassy in Prague.
To mark the Czech EU Presidency in 2009, Černý created the installation “Entropa,” which depicts stereotypes of the individual EU member states. This sparked outrage in several countries, especially in Bulgaria, whose outline was depicted in the shape of a squat toilet.
His art has gained international recognition beyond the borders of the Czech Republic, with exhibitions in London and Blankenberge (Belgium).
Works In 2021, the ARTAFFAIR Gallery plans the first exhibition with David Cerny exclusively for Germany.
An overview of his work can be found in the online gallery.
QUO VADIS – the limited edition This sculpture was created on the occasion of the fall of the Berlin Wall in September 1989.
In honor of the 30th anniversary of German unity, the artist was convinced to agree to a limited edition in a scale of 1:18. Until then, the artist had never agreed to an edition of his many well-known sculptures.
In collaboration with Till Breckner from the Breckner Gallery, the Tagesspiegel Berlin, and Art Affair, the limited and signed bronze edition, restricted to 100 copies, was created in autumn 2020.
2023 “Via Illuminativa”, Brixten, Italy
2022 “Art in Oisterwijk”, Oisterwijk, Netherlands
2022 “Czech Season”, Kunsthalle Dresden, Germany
2022 “Open City”, Lublin, Poland
2020 “Sculpture by the Sea”, Perth, Australia
2020 “Artists as Activists”, National Czech Museum, Iowa, USA
2019 “NordArt”, Büdelsdorf, Germany
2018 “Sculpture by the Sea”, Sydney, Australia
2018 “Quan Jun Biennale”, China
2017 “NordArt”, Büdelsdorf, Germany
2016 “NordArt”, Regensburg, Germany
2016 “Observations: A Digital Life”, New York, USA
2015 “Open Art”, Orebro, Sweden
2014 “Sculpture by the Sea”, Sydney, Australia
2014 “Signal Festival”, Prague, Czech Republic
2014 “Light Festival”, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
2013 “Twente Biennale”, Hengelo, The Netherlands
2013 “Art Masters”, San Moritz, Swiss
2012 “Biele noci”, Košice, Slovakia
2011 “Twente Biennale”, Hengelo, The Netherlands
2011 “Inspiracje”, Szczecin, Poland
2011 “ArtBoom”, Krakow, Poland
2011 “Cenzurovano”, Zlín, Czech Republic
2011 “Mapy”, GMB, Bratislava, Slovakia
2011 “Groteska”, NOD Gallery, Prague, Czech Republic
2011 “MojA”, Prague, Czech Republic
2011 “NordArt”, Rensbourg, Germany
2010 “Twente Biennale”, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
2010 “AntiBeeld”, Arti et Amicitiae, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
2010 “Homo Erotica”, National Museum Warsaw, Poland
2010 “Colours”, Dresden Motorhalle, Germany
2010 “Art Pricze”, DOX Gallery, Prague, Czech Republic
2010 “Dekadence Now”, UMPRUM, Prague, Czech Republic
2010 “Danubiana”, Bratislava, Slovakia
2009 “A Monument to Transformation”, City Gallery Prague, Czech Republic
2009 “2nd Biennial”, Art Sector Katowice, Poland
2009 “New Millenium, Minor Sensations”, National University Museum of Art, Seoul, South Korea
2009 “Po Sametu”, U zlatého prstenu, Prague, Czech Republic
2009 Center for Contemporary Art, Plovdiv, Bulgaria
2009 Pecsgallery, Hungary
2009 Irokez Gallery, Budapest, Hungary
2008 Interferencia, Barcelona, Madrid, Spain
2006 “Project 2006 Beaufort”, Oostende, Belgium
2006 “Shadows of Humor”, BWA Gallery, Wroclaw, Poland
2006 “Waste of Humor”, Cieszyn, Poland
2005 “Beauty Free Shop”, Prague, Czech Republic
2005 “Prague Biennial”, Prague, Czech Republic
2005 “Pink”, National University of Art, Tokyo, Japan
2005 “Living Together”, Odapark, Venray, Holland
2005 “Sculpture Grande”, Prague, Czech Republic
2003 “Survey ‘03”, Futura Gallery, Prague, Czech Republic
2003 “Aus Liebe”, Galerie Remscheid, Germany
2002 “Politik-um”, Prague, Czech Republic
2002 “Between Dresden and Prague”, Italian Embassy, Prague, Czech Republic
2001 “To Flow To”, Chromosome Gallery, Berlin, Germany
2001 “A Sense of Well-Being”, Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic
2000 “Tschechische Vogels”, Kunsthalle, Dresden, Germany
2000 “Meet”, Jindřich Chalupecký Award, National Gallery, Prague, Czech Republic
2000 “The End of the World”, National Gallery, Prague, Czech Republic
2000 “”Czech History”, SKODA Pavillion, Autostadt Volkswagen, Wolfsburg, Germany
1999 “99 CZ”, Prague
1999 “After the Wall”, Moderna Museet, Stockholm, Sweden
2023 “Rebelion”, CECUT Tijuana, México
2022 Hohmann, Village Court Gallery, Palm Dessert, USA
2020 “Last Works”, Dvořák Sec Contemporary, Prague, Czech Republic
2020 Hohmann, Village Court Gallery, Palm Dessert, USA
2019 “Babies”, Palm Springs, USA
2019 “Quo Vadis”, Berlin, Germany
2016 “Legs”, Czech Olympic House, Rio de Janeiro, Brasil
2016 “Black Hole”, Dvořák Sec Contemporary, Prague, Czech Republic
2014 Dvořák Sec Contemporary, Prague, Czech Republic
2013 Mucsarnok, Budapest, Hungary
2013 Dvořák Sec Contemporary, Prague, Czech Republic
2013 Kuchling Gallery, Berlin, Germany
2012 “London Booster”, Czech Olympic House, London, UK
2010 Mona Lisa Gallery, Olomouc, Czech Republic
2010 Gallery Arsenal, Poznan, Poland
2009 Dvořák Sec Contemporary, Prague, Czech Republic
2009 CO2 Gallery, Roma, Italy
2009 Entropa, DOX, Prague, Czech Republic (with Krištof Kintera and Tomáš Pospiszyl)
2007 Hanging Out, Czech Center, Chicago, USA
2007 Dvořák Sec Contemporary, Prague, Czech Republic
2002 “Circus Černý”, MAMA Gallery, NAI, Boijmans van Beuningen, Tent, Politiegalerei, various public spaces, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
2002 “Political Pop”, Chromosome Gallery, Berlin, Germany
2002 Galerie V kapli, Bruntál, Czech Republic
2000 David Černý, New York University, Prague, Czech Republic
1999 David Černý, Czech Embassy in London, UK
1993 “Artificial”, Václav Špála Gallery, Prague, Czech Republic
1992 “Fertility”, Rubín Club, Prague, Czech Republic (with Markéta Baňková)
1991 “Draft”, Andy Warhol Museum of Modern Art, Medzilaborce, Slovakia
1991 “Smallness”, Dům Umění, Znojmo, Czech Republic
1990 “Exhibition for the Lowest Instincts”, Delta Club, Prague, Czech Republic (with Tomáš Pospiszyl)
