Michal Škapa
Analfabet is a term that refers to an illiterate person, i.e. someone who cannot read and write. It is used in a limited sense and as a swear word, or at least a derogatory term. Despite this, or precisely because of this, there are probably only a few words whose meaning in general better affects the issue of graffiti. If the graphomaniac similarly eloquently expresses the almost obsessive activity of writers, the illiterate touches on a different topic. Namely, the explosive level of non/intelligibility and mutual non/understanding. It is clear from the daily facade practice that writers know how to write, but for the vast majority of people their inscriptions are illegible. Taken literally - with the exception of registering the existence of a name - they often don't even give it to themselves, yet tags and pieces have meaning for both groups. Only the information they convey is diametrically different. The word analfabet in connection with graffiti serves above all to relativize the approach to this visual phenomenon, since it is not clear whether it refers to its authors or viewers.
The ANALFABET exhibition presents the current works of one of our most prominent authors associated with the graffiti scene - Michal Škapa aka TRON. It is focused on the part of his work that directly stems from graffz roots, and deals with writing in the sense of an abstract sign with a strong emotional charge. Its basis is the latest cycle of dynamic structural compositions that provoke both the concentrated energy of the handwriting and the cryptographically encrypted content. The extensive intermedial project includes paintings, objects, works on paper, light installations and large-format projection. From the closed space of the gallery, he confidently intervenes on its facade and in the immediate surroundings, in order to at least symbolically remind the connection of graffiti to public space. The exhibition is accompanied by the first comprehensive bilingual catalog of Michal Škapa, which, based on exclusive visual material from his personal archive, monitors the development of his entire work to date.
