Legs out of Water: Provocative artist Kurt Gebauer makes people take notice
A small pond in Jeseník is attracting plenty of attention. Kurt Gebauer, a provocative Czech sculptor, painter and lifelong fighter for better public space, has selected it for one of his latest public installations.
What was a common, everyday sight for the locals has become a colourful topic of debate. The focus of attention is no longer the charming little island in the middle of the pond, but the three pairs of female legs sticking out of the water –as if three water nymphs were doing handstands.
The installation “Legs out of Water” is part of an exhibition of the provocative painter and sculptor Kurt Gebauer now on show in the local gallery. But the artist – a lifelong fighter for better public space – asked for one of the installations to be placed out in the open.
The curator of the exhibition Tereza Slováková explains what it is meant to portray.
"The outdoor installation Legs out of Water is part of the exhibition that we are now showing at the Jeseník Gallery of Contemporary Art, which is called The Living Human Being. The theme of the exhibition is movement and joy, with people captured in the act of various spontaneous activities. Here you see girls playing in the water, doing handstands and frolicking,"
“Legs out of Water” makes drivers hit the breaks for a second look and has provoked both positive and negative reactions from the town's inhabitants.
Roman Ondroušek is one of the locals.
"It's nice, our daughter doesn't just do handstands in the pool, she does them all over the garden, so legs waving in the air is a familiar sight. It reflects the life of the young. So why not?"
Hana Mičulková holds a different view.
"This is really not to my taste, mothers with children come here, it’s a public space, and this just doesn’t seem appropriate to me.”
Kristýna Krutilová, from the local gallery says Kurt Gebauer would have been pleased about the controversy the installation has evoked and the gallery is also happy to have stirred the waters of the local pond.
"This is, after all, the reason why works are placed in the public space. To break the stereotype and provoke a reaction from the general public. We are following the discussion and we are glad that people are noticing and reacting in any way"
The Legs Out of Water installation and the entire exhibition will be on display in Jeseník until the end of September.
Kurt Gebauer‘s work can be found in many public places in Prague and beyond. A 10-metre-high sculpture by him, which appeared in 2021 on Prague’s Vítězné náměstí, was meant to symbolise the “caterpillar of early capitalism” in the Czech Republic. The artist designed it in response to the "bad mood" of the public, a term coined by former president Václav Havel to describe the loss of post-communist-era euphoria among the country’s citizens.
Gebauer also created a heart-shaped monument to Václav Havel the National Theatre piazzetta.
Also well-known are his Dwarfs in Vojanovy Sady and his Bohemian Pond, featuring sculptures of women with water spraying from their heads and mouths.
