David Fesl at Lulu – Art Viewer

Artist: David Fesl

Venue: Lulu (by X Museum), Mexico City, Mexico

Date: July 3 – September 11, 2021

Photography: all images copyright and courtesy of the artists and Lulu, Mexico City

Lulu by X Museum is pleased to present an exhibition of the Prague-based, Czech artist David Fesl.

David Fesl makes small-scale sculptures from everyday materials. His meticulously assembled objects abide by an internal logic that is as much about form and texture as it is about color. His broad diversity of materials would seem to preclude cohesion, but Fesl’s painterly sensibility invests his compact works with a palpable unity. The natural and the artificial are seamlessly combined to generate structures which assume an almost organic inevitability. By the same token, the distinct sensuousness of his juxtapositions possesses an erotic quality, thanks to how the sustained confrontation of radically different materials are synthesized into something irreducibly other. Fesl’s practice can be provisionally situated in a discussion of like-minded artists working today, which includes Yuji Agematsu, Miho Dohi, David Gilbert and even Jiri Kovanda (with whom Fesl studied in Prague) but what he brings to the conversation is so unique that it is clear that, despite his relative youth, he is staking out his own singular position within it.

David Fesl (b. 1995, Czech Republic) lives and works in Prague. In 2020 he received his MFA from Academy of Fine Arts in Prague. Fesl’s recent and upcoming exhibitions include NEVVEN Gallery, Gothenburg (2021); The Brno House of Arts (2021); and SVIT Gallery, Prague (2022). He has exhibited at Georg Kargl Box Fine Arts, Vienna (2020); Karlin Studios, Prague (2020); Castlefield Gallery, Manchester (2018); and National Gallery Prague (2016–2017) among others. Since 2016, he has been part of an artistic duo along with Sláva Sobotovičová, in which they focus mainly on the creation of institutionally critical texts and performances. He is represented by Georg Kargl Fine Arts in Vienna.

David Fesl, 2021, exhibition view, Lulu by X Museum

David Fesl, Untitled, 2021, Plastic bottle cap, driftwood, European spiny lobster antennae (Palinurus vulgaris), rosehip thorn (Rosa canina), philodendron leaf (Philodendron cordatum), polyester ornament, leatherette seat cover, 6.6 x 17.7 x 6.3 cm (2.5 x 6.9 x 2.4 in)

David Fesl, Untitled, 2021, Smooth Brittle Star (Ophioderma longicauda), plasterboard grid, plasterboard grid cover, tile adhesive, hot-melt glue, varnished beech wood, wood putty, metal ointment tube cap, birch bark (Betula pendula), trekking stick tip, 8.3 x 15.4 x 4.9 cm (3.2 x 6 x 1.9 in)

David Fesl, Untitled, 2021, Bamboo chopsticks, chew-proof hardware netting, driftwood, Cherry pit (Prunus avium), plastic lighter casing, silicone, steel wire, vinyl dot sticker, Dior lipstick cap, 4.6 × 20.8 × 4.7 cm (1.8 x 8.1 x 1.8 in)

David Fesl, Sin título, 2021, Cinturón textil, rizoma de caña gigante (Arundo donax), modelo de avión de plástico, Concha de papel Nautilus (Argonauta argo), 5.3 × 16.6 × 5.7 cm (2 x 6.5 x 2.2 in)

David Fesl, 2021, exhibition view, Lulu by X Museum

David Fesl, Untitled, 2021, Metal fork, piece of plastic barrel, comb handle, Spidergum Claw (Eucalyptus lehmanii), cotton thread, acrylic sealant, electrical terminal block, 7.8 x 17.4 x 4.7 cm (3 x 6.8 x 1.8 in)

David Fesl, Untitled, 2021, Pheasant feather (Phasianus colchicus), acrylic paint, cornflake poppy twig (Papaver rhoeas), 5.4 x 20.8 x 2.1 cm (2.1 x 8.1 x .8 in)

David Fesl, Untitled, 2021, Honey spoon, long-grain white rice (Oryza sativa), wire, restoration dye, wasp nest, driftwood, wood putty, decorative wire, gypsum, 8 × 16.5 × 4.9 cm (3.1 x 6.4 x 1.9 in)

David Fesl, Untitled, 2021, Ceramic jug handle, tennis ball, Mediterranean cypress cone (Cupressus sempervirens), plastic ointment tube nozzle, textile fishing net, wrapping paper, lighter wheel, 8.2 × 10.7 × 5.6 cm (3.2 x 4.2 x 2.2 in)

David Fesl, 2021, exhibition view, Lulu by X Museum