The monumental object by Krištof Kintera was created at the instigation of the Bohemian Heritage Fund, originally for the city of Litomyšl. The artist began working on it back in 2019, and during the coronavirus pandemic, production at the Slovak foundry was delayed. The artist finished Praying Wood in his Prague studio in 2023, and now, thanks to cooperation with the Prague City Gallery, it will finally be shown to the public on Štvanice Island. The casting was created in collaboration with the Slovak sculptor and founder Laco Sabo.
The work takes the form of a giant "driftwood" figure kneeling and praying. Similar sculptures have appeared in Kintera's work before, but only on a smaller scale. The monument is a casting made of aluminum alloy, and real beech trunks from the Bohemian Paradise were used to create the mold. Thanks to its shape with precisely executed details, the sculpture functions as both a landscape and a tactile work. Praying Wood is, in a way, a visionary work, a memento mori that warns us against ourselves. In addition to environmental imperatives, it carries social and political meanings. Even though viewers may encounter a humorous subtext in the author's works, in this case and in the current situation, it is a truly chilling piece.
From a simple rearranging of wooden fragments, an image of humility emerges, a reminder of childhood play in the woods, a new being referencing the transcendental need of man, the longing for the unattainable and the transcendent. It reminds us that, despite all our efforts, we find ourselves at a threshold: man is an inseparable part of nature, yet is moving further and further away from it. The object itself, evoking primitive artifacts of indigenous cultures, attempts a vertical reconciliation, a totemic straining toward the universe. Sooner or later, we will necessarily need this reconciliation. Without responsibility and without contact with nature and our own finitude – therein lies our greatest loss: we do not remain whole. And so the question arises: is it nature praying for man, or man praying for nature?
Curator: Lenka Lindaurová
