Luboš Plný

Luboš Plný (born 4 November 1961) is a Czech painter and conceptual artist, usually classified as a creator of art brut. His work can be found in many important collections in the Czech Republic and elsewhere. He is the only Czech artist invited to the 2017 international exhibition Viva Arte Viva! at the 57th Venice Biennale. He lives and works in Prague.

Life Luboš Plný was born in Česká Lípa (then Czechoslovakia). He was an only child of parents, employed at Czechoslovak Railways. He began making drawings in childhood, and was also interested in anatomy, which he studied by dissecting dead animals. He apprenticed as an electrician at a railway vocational school in Nymburk. In 1983, he did his basic military service, but the stressful environment caused him to suffer from depression, sleep disorders, and hallucinations, and he repeatedly had problems with insubordination. He was subsequently diagnosed with schizophrenia simplex and hospitalized. He spent the next six years working for the Czechoslovak Railways in northern Bohemia. In his free time, he taught painting courses and also trained in bodybuilding and powerlifting. At age 27, he was given a disability pension.

In 1989 Plný moved to Prague, where he spent the next several years holding down various jobs. He painted tin soldiers and was a janitor at a department store, a sales clerk at an antiquarian bookshop, and a security guard at a gallery. In 2004 he even took a gravedigging course. He began to take a deeper interest in the causes of his insomnia, studied medical literature and anatomical guides, and attended autopsies. His drawings from that time were a form of self-therapy.

In the late 1980s, Plný twice applied unsuccessfully to the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague. In 1989, he began to sit as a model for the figure drawing classes with the aim of earning the then-non-existent title of “Academic Model,” which he invented himself and was officially presented with by the school's chancellor, Jiří T. Kotalík, in the year 2000. Plný says, “I realized that I’d rather be the best model than a mediocre artist.” He nevertheless continued to focus on making his own art.

Work Drawings and paintings

The main theme in Luboš Plný's art is the human body - its functioning, its limitations, and its mortality. Most of his works could be called “anatomical self-portraits”, in which he mixes drawing, painting and conceptual art with scientific project. He combines color ink with acrylic paint and collage, and includes organic elements such as blood, hair, the ashes of his dead parents, used medical aids, and “evidentiary objects” from his experiments on his own body.

One source of inspiration for Plný was the birth of his son Vincent (2005), which he documented in several of his works. Ever since undergoing surgery to remove a part of his thyroid gland, this organ has been blacked out on his drawings. Sometimes he even includes actual photographs from his operation.

An integral part of each of Plný's drawings is a detailed written record that also acts as his diary. Each drawing contains information on his age in days when he started and finished working on it, marked by a star and a cross. He also systematically records other data such as the exact day and time when he took a break from drawing and started again.

Conceptual works and performance art

Luboš Plný's first and the most important project that might be called “conceptual” was the six-year period during which he worked as a model at Prague's Academy of Fine Arts with the goal of obtaining the title of “Academic Model.” During this time, which was the average length of study at the Academy, he perfected his posture, studied art history, and collected a broad range of doctor's assessments, recommendations from leading artists, or photographs showing him in famous poses from the history of art (Myron's Discobolus, Rodin's Thinker, Leonardo da Vinci's John the Baptist, Jacques-Louis David's Death of Marat...). The project even received a grant from the Center for Contemporary Art. In 1999 his request was approved by the school's arts council and the following year chancellor Jiří T. Kotalík officially presented him with the title of “Academic Model” at the graduation ceremony at the Monastery of St. Agnes of Bohemia. Since then he signs his works by a stamp with his title: “Academic Model Luboš Plný.”

Plný carefully documents his life in a diary, in which he records all his daily activities, information on his state of health and meteorological and astronomical phenomena, and into which he also adds clippings, small photographs, and official documents. Many of his works have the character of a scientific experiment. He keeps records of his illnesses, treatments, and bodily processes – for instance fluid intake or output, or the “quality” of his bellybutton lint and its relationship to temperature, the current weather, or type of clothing (Navel Journal). In Father and Mother, he worked with his parents’ ashes sealed in a glass Petri dish, around which he drew a spiral in miniature writing, where he recorded every single day of their lives.

Plný also engages in performance art and long-term projects in which he explores the process of his own aging. Over the course of many years, he has photographed himself in identical positions, and he then combined these photographs in collages to create a new artistic artifacts. His mental and physical suffering, but also physical pleasure, are transformed into art projects through which he tries to understand the limits of his own physical existence. 1993 Dobře zachované ostatky (Well-Preserved Remains), Galerie Affa, Prague 2002 Zuby jsou bezvadný, ale dásně budou muset ven (The teeth are fine, but the gums will have to come out), Galerie Millennium, Prague 2003 Luboš Plný, Silvia Vurcfeldová – Chvála bláznovství III (In Praise of Foolishness III), Prague 2007 Body Electric, Cavin-Morris Gallery, New York City 2009 Anatomia metamorphosis (with Anna Zemánková), abcd la galerie, Montreuil, Francie 2010 Anatomia Metamorphosis. Fernand Desmoulin, Dwight Mackintosh & Luboš Plný. Institut Français d’Istanbul, Istanbul 2011 Anatomia Metamorphosis (Anna Zemánková / Luboš Plný / František Dymáček), Museum Montanelli, Prague 2012 Anatomia Metamorphosis (Anna Zemánková / Luboš Plný / František Dymáček), Saarländische Galerie, Palais am Festungsgraben, Berlin 2012 Anatomia Metamorphosis (with Anna Zemánková), Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art; Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art 2014 Timelessness – Zdeněk Košek / Luboš Plný, Galeria Tak, Poznan 2017 Luboš Plný: *13677 +20248, Artinbox Gallery, Prague 2017 Bodies Electric (with Anna Zemánková), Cavin-Morris Gallery, New York City, NY

Group exhibitions (selection) 2002 Měsíc bláznovství (Month of Foolishness), Galerie Millennium, Prague 2003 Das endlose Rätsel. Dalí und die Magier der Mehrdeutigkeit, Museum Kunstpalast, Düsseldorf 2003 Trajectoire du rêve, du romantisme au surréalisme, Pavillon des Arts, Paris 2003 Triptyque: abcd une collection de l’art brut, Salle Chemellier, Angers 2004 A corps perdu: abcd, une collection de l’art brut, Pavillon des Arts, Paris 2005 Le chant des sirènes. L’automatisme dans l’art brut, abcd la galerie, Montreuil 2005 Měsíc bláznovství (Month of Foolishness), Galerie Millennium, Prague 2005 System in Chaos: New Art Brut from the Czech Republic, Cavin-Morris Gallery, New York 2006 Monstra a monstra v nás (Monsters and Monsters Within), Galerie Millennium, Prague 2006 Art brut. Sbírka abcd (Art Brut. The abcd Collection), Stone Bell House, Prague City Gallery, Prague 2007 Hating 4 Never, Cavin-Morris Gallery, New York 2007 Umění porodit (The Art of Giving Birth), Artinbox Gallery, Prague 2008 Photo Genetics + Sentra Photo Thesis: Star Dust, Cavin-Morris Gallery, New York 2008 Chthonic Youth, Cavin-Morris Gallery, New York 2010 Plant Body, Animal Body, Cavin-Morris Gallery, New York 2010 Le monde à l’envers. Art brut de la collection abcd. Musée Guislain, Ghent 2010 Body talk, Musée art et marge, Brusel 2011 Láska je slepá – sex je všude (Love is Blind – Sex is Elsewhere), Artinbox Gallery, Prague 2012 Discoveries and Recent Acquisitions, Christian Berst art brut, Paris 2012 Rentrée hors-les-normes, Christian Berst art brut, Paris 2012 Anatomia Metamorphosis: Luboš Plný and Anna Zemánkova: Works from the abcd Collection, MOCA Hiroshima 2013 Drawing Now, Galerie Christian Berst, Paris 2013 Restless II – A Mix, Cavin-Morris Gallery, New York, NY 2013 Kdo lže, krade...? (He Who Lies, Steals…?), Artinbox Gallery, Prague 2013 Metro Show, Cavin-Morris Gallery, New York, NY 2014 Le mur, oeuvres de la collection Antoine de Galbert, La Maison rouge, Paris 2014 Art brut, collection abcd / Bruno Decharme, La Maison rouge, Paris 2014 Art Brut – Masterpieces and Discoveries, Christian Berst art brut, Paris 2014 Freshet: Old Loves, New Directions, Cavin-Morris Gallery, New York 2015 Art brut live: abcd collection / Bruno Decharme, DOX, Prague 2015 Rhizome: New Grow That, Cavin-Morris Gallery, New York 2015 In Dreams Begin Responsibilities: 30 Years at Cavin-Morris Gallery, Cavin-Morris Gallery, New York 2015 dRAW, Intuit, The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art, Chicago 2015 preTENse, Christian Berst art brut, Paris 2015 Du nombril au cosmos / Autour de la collection abcd/ Bruno Decharme. art)&(marges, Brussels 2016 Maverick, Cavin-Morris Gallery, New York 2016 Art Brut: Breaking the Boundaries, Treger-Saint Silvestre Collection. Olivia Creative Factory, São João da Madeira 2017 Art Brut: A Story of Individual Mythologies. Works from the Treger-Saint Silvestre Collection, Oliva Creative Factory, São João da Madeira 2017 Brut now: l’art brut au temps des technologies, Musées de Belfort, Belfort 2017 Viva Arte Viva!, international exhibition at the 57th Venice Biennale