The Weight of Bone and Blood

The studio is a space defined by the presence of the dead. Filip Kůrka, born in 1993 in Prostějov, moves through a landscape of biological remains, specifically a collection of 600 deer skulls that anchor his physical reality. His work is not a detached observation of nature but a visceral engagement with it. He studied at Ateliér volného umění III and later expanded his perspective through Erasmus studies in London, experiences that shaped a practice rooted in the tension between the living and the skeletal.

His early exhibitions carry a heavy, almost confrontational weight. In 2013, at the Anne Frank Memorial in Brno, he presented Prasata a (nebo) lidé, a title that immediately blurs the boundary between the porcine and the human. This preoccupation with the animalistic and the corporeal suggests a preoccupation with the raw mechanics of existence. He does not merely paint; he confronts the viewer with the physical residue of life.

The Performance of Existence

Art for Kůrka often spills out of the frame and into the realm of lived experience. His career is marked by moments that challenge the traditional boundaries of the gallery space, where the act of creation is inseparable from the act of living. His history includes unconventional, high-stakes social performances that disrupt the quietude of the art world.

• The 2017 exhibition "He was 17 years old when he was sold into slavery" held at Kavárna co hledá jméno in Praha.
• A three-day studio event involving BDSM performance and intense social gathering.
• The intersection of hunting practices and the accumulation of anatomical specimens.

These events are not mere footnotes; they are the texture of his development. The distinction between the artist and the subject becomes porous. When he discusses his relationship with hunting, it is not a political stance but a practical, tactile connection to the material he uses to build his visual language.

The Hunter's Eye

In 2018, the work Little Hunter appeared in the Kysuce Gallery, Osnicna, signaling a continued focus on the predatory and the prey. His paintings often grapple with these primal dynamics, utilizing the starkness of bone and the reality of the hunt to ground his imagery. He operates in a space where the academic training of his youth meets a raw, unpolished instinct for the visceral. His work remains a study of what remains after the life has departed, captured through a lens that is both clinical and deeply personal.