Talk the Talk
對話

The base of this mural are two heads talking to each other. One is assamled from fragments and machinery. Kind of a cyborg or robot. The other head represent nature. And there is a dialog. How can we live successfully with technology but in harmony with mother nature. There is one more portrait around the corner. It is half girl half robot, coming from the future and hidding in the grid of the Hong Kong walls, cables and pipes

MICHAL ŠKAPA (1978) is a visual artist from the collective associated with Prague’s Trafo Gallery and MeetFactory, who has been preoccupied with urban structures for much of his career. Over time his interest in this topic, sparked at the beginning of the 90ies by his involvement in graffiti, grew into a broader range of artistic expression and contexts. This was greatly influenced by stays in the United States (2000) and Sao Paulo, Brazil (2005). He has been able to gradually transform his visual inspiration, based predominantly on rigorous mapping of authentic subcultures, into a unique language which has become typical of his art to the present day.

On the one hand, his artwork is comprised of gestic compositions that present letters as abstract signs with a coded content. Their archetype is pixação – brutal runic writings of Brazilian vandals. Although these compositions may evoke expressive meaningless structures at first sight, they are all actually written statements hiding concrete messages, mostly fragments of rap texts or poetry. On the other hand, he makes precise paintings realistically composed by airbrush and drawing on comic-book aesthetics, which is commonly referred to as compression. Initially inspired by footage of the total destruction following the nuclear disaster at the Fukushima power plant in Japan, the emphasis on the apocalyptic has faded with time, and been replaced by a fascination with visual patterns that are characteristic of compressed architectonic systems. The sum refers both to psychology and language, as well as the vizualization of the street as a significant multilayered phenomenon that plays a major role in defining today’s life. Each of these two streaks of his artwork zooms this topic from a different perspective. One is preoccupied with detail while the other is focused on a global summary.

Together they represent an interlinked system which is complementary and which reports, in a complex visual way, on the state of the urban landscape. A stress on the cultural-historic and politicizing aspects is evident, for instance, in the monumental architecture representing the official propaganda of dictatorships. 

Michal Skapa is an intermedia artist. He expresses himself through painting, objects, mural art, public space interventions and graphic art. He is a co-founder of the cult screen printing workshop Analog!Bros and a close collaborator with the BiggBoss label. He has taken part in crucial group presentations, such as, for instance, the exhibitions STUCK ON THE CITY (Prague City Gallery, 2012 /catalogue/, CREWni obraz (Regional Gallery of Vysocina, Jihlava 2018) and REVOLUCNI 30 (a pop-up gallery event in Revolucni Street, Prague 2019). He represented the Czech Republic at the EXPO 2010 in Shanghai. His major solo exhibitions include FROM WALL TO WALL (Art Gallery in Cheb, Cheb 2012) and, most importantly, the well received and valued exhibition triptych GRAFFOMAN (Chemistry Gallery, Prague 2014), ANALFABET (Trafo Gallery, Prague 2017 /catalogue/) and BABYLON (Galerie Villa Pellé, Prague 2018 /catalogue/). In 2008 he was invited to participate in Prague’s Signal Festival (a festival of digital and creative culture) which he followed up with a large format neon installation for DEPO2015 in Pilsen. He made one of the biggest murals in Europe covering 5 000 m2  next to the Vaclav Havel Prague Airport in 2020. Michal represented Czech Republic with a solo exhibition at Oslo in Norway recently. He also presented his work at Scope Art Show at Art Basel Miami week in 2022 and 2023.

The actual titles of his exhibition projects indicate that megalopolises and multicultural urban agglomerations play a key role as visual and information sources of Michal Skapa’s artistic pursuits.

MICHAL ŠKAPA(Tron)是一位來自布拉格 Trafo 畫廊和 MeetFactory 合作項目的視覺藝術家，他在職業生涯的大部分時間都專注於城市結構。隨著時間的推移，他在 90 年代初因參與塗鴉而對這個話題產生了興趣，並逐漸發展成為更廣泛的藝術表達和情景。這很大程度上受到在美國（2000年）和巴西聖保羅（2005年）居留的經歷影響。他的靈感來源於他對真實的亞文化映射嚴格的測繪，並逐漸把他們轉化為一種獨特的視覺語言，這種視覺語言至今已成為他典型的藝術的風格。

一方面，他的藝術作品由不同的手勢組成並運用字母作為抽象的符號和被編碼的內容作為構圖。它們的原型是 pixação——巴西街頭充滿攻擊性的塗鴉。儘管這些作品乍看之下並無意義和富有表現力，但它們實際上都是隱藏著訊息，大多是饒舌文本或詩歌的片段。另一方面，他利用噴筆和漫畫美學風格進行精準但被壓縮的像真繪畫。最初的靈感來自日本福島核電廠核災後徹底被毀滅後的鏡頭，隨著時間的推移世界末日的強調性逐漸消失，取而代之的是對壓縮化的建築系統特徵圖案的迷戀。這既指心理和語言結合，也指街道作為視覺化的多層現象，在定義當今生活中發揮著重要作用。他的藝術作品通過這兩種風格從不同的角度放大了這個主題。一種專注於細節，另一種專注於全局的總括。

它們一同代表了一個相互關聯及互補的系統，並以複雜的視覺形式展示了城市景像。例如，在代表獨裁政權的政治宣傳紀念性建築中，明顯地表現了對文化歷史和政治化的強調。

Michal Skapa 是一位跨媒體藝術家。他透過繪畫、物件、壁畫、公共空間幹預和圖像藝術來表達自己。他是網版印刷工作室 Analog!Bros 的共同創辦人，也是 BiggBoss label 的密切合作者。他曾參與重要的聯展 ，例如「STUCK ON THE CITY」(Prague City Gallery, 2012 /catalogue/）、CREWni obraz(Regional Gallery of Vysocina, Jihlava 2018) 和REVOLUCNI 30（2019 年布拉格Revolucni 街畫廊快閃展覽活動）。他代表捷克共和國參加2010 年上海世博會。他主要的個展包括《FROM WALL TO WALL》 (Art Gallery in Cheb, Cheb 2012)、受到好評和關注的展覽三聯畫《GRAFFOMAN》(Chemistry Gallery, Prague 2014)、《ANALFABET》(Trafo Gallery, Prague 2017 /catalogue/)和《BABYLON》 (Galerie Villa Pellé, Prague 2018 /catalogue/)。在2008 年，他受邀參加布拉格的信號藝術節，隨後他在皮爾森DEPO2015 製作了大幅面霓虹燈裝置。2020 年，他在布拉格瓦茨拉夫·哈維爾機場旁製作了佔地5,000 平方米的壁畫，是歐洲最大型的壁畫之一。Michal 最近在挪威奧斯陸代表捷克共和國舉辦個展。他還在 2022 年和 2023 年邁阿密巴塞爾藝術週的 紐約藝術博覽會上展示了自己的作品。他的展覽的主題表明為特大城市和多元文化城市群作為 Michal Skapa 的藝術追求中發揮關鍵作用。