Parafin – Hynek Martinec: Will and Representation

Parafin is delighted to announce an exhibition of new works by Hynek Martinec. It will be the artist’s third exhibition with the gallery and his first since his landmark solo show at the National Gallery in Prague in 2018.

It is with parodic timing that Martinec draws our attention to Schopenhauer. By referencing ‘The World As Will And Representation’ (1818) – a pithy, disillusioning philosophy – Martinec is not attempting to align himself with the philosopher himself, or the other artists and writers in his wake but he is drawing our attention to an experience of disillusionment, a feeling that may be especially resonant now. This has set the scene for Martinec to borrow from Schopenhauer’s witty, negative perspective, considered to be so derisive it is almost optimistic.