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Immerse yourself in optical illusions
We are the first museum of its kind in our country – our first exhibition was created in 2018 and has been growing ever since. The works of Czech and international artists will surprise you with their originality and high-quality execution. Unexpected optical illusions will play with your senses and imagination, expanding your perception of the world by creating new perspectives, because finding the right point of view is essential to experiencing our exhibits. Just like in life.
Learn from the best
Our exhibition maps illusory art techniques throughout history and incorporates the newest trends in art. You will be amazed by the 3D anamorphic installations made of various objects by Patrik Proško and the unique metallurgical paintings painted with fire by Ladislav Vlna. Discover the reverse perspective in the works of the prominent British artist Patrick Hughes, and marvel at the optical reliefs of Ivana Štenclová and the 3D paintings of Zdenek Daňek and Jan Jírovec. Explore the changing lenticular images of David Strauzz from Canada, or the stereoscopic photographs of Czech travelers Zikmund and Hanzelka. You will also learn about red cyan filtering, stereograms, and anaglyphs, and be introduced to the light art technique of Czech artist Alex Dowis, and much more.
Enjoy and interact
Not only will you discover beautiful original works by our artists, but since most of the works are interactive, you will be able to engage with them. Capture stunning photos where you will be the protagonist in the scenes, many rooted in Czech history. Treasure and share photos that your friends and family will love. 2D images will turn into 3D spaces, and vice versa, and sculptures will turn into paintings. Try painting with light yourself and learn about the behind-the-scenes creation of individual works in our mini cinema. And with our (free of charge) mobile app, augmented reality will add new layers to our exhibitions in real time. Here you will also find technical anamorphic constructions that are based on the mathematical principles of optical illusions.
Patrik Proško (1974)
Patrik Proško is a sculptor and visual artist, creating hyperrealistic sculptures of scientific reconstructions of animals and people, expressive sculptural portraits, and also illusory anamorphic installations and paintings, which are unique features in the IAM Prague exhibition.
A native of České Budějovice, he lives in Prague, where he completed his studies in sculpture at the University of Arts and Sciences with professor V. K. Novák. Patrik primarily deals with non-invasive art in public spaces in his non-commissioned work. He uses different techniques, artistic approaches and a certain kind of visual manipulation to create a site-specific work. This makes art visible in its "raw state" and thus points out that we can find it all around us.
So far, he has created more than 50 large-format realizations in the landscapes of 17 countries around the world, which have one thing in common: None of them exist anymore. The artist perceives the transience of things as a starting point of permanent value, and therefore allows his works to succumb to extinction in a short period of time. Only their photo documentation remains.
Patrick Hughes (1939)
Patrick Hughes developed a unique technique of inverted perspective, which he calls "reverspective" - meaning works of inverted perspective, creating a unique optical illusion, disrupting the perception of space and depth by the brain.
Hughes himself explains: “Reverspectives are 3D paintings that look two-dimensional when viewed from the front using classical perspective. However, once the viewer moves their head, the 3D surface of the image emphasizes depth and magnifies the perspective shift far beyond what the human brain usually allows, creating a strong and often disorienting impression of depth and movement. The illusion is created by painting the perspective in reverse order (reversed), that is, the closest part of each work is the one that is actually the farthest from the viewer in the painting."
The Birmingham native lives and works in London and his art is displayed and exhibited throughout Europe, South Asia, Canada and the United States.
Ivana Štenclová (1980)
She experiments with form, techniques and materials – including drawing with both a glue gun and a syringe, layering images from insulation covers, knitting with wires, using decorative painting rollers, stamps, and even lasers to burn motifs through sheet metal.
A graduate of the Prague Academy of Fine Arts in the drawing studio of professor Jitka Svobodová, Ivana currently lives and works near Opava. Since 2000, when she first entered the art scene as a student, the main theme of her work has been interpersonal - especially family - relationships. Initially, she subjected her childhood and closest relatives to analysis, later her own motherhood and daughter became the subject of her work.
The drawing line is still the defining factor of her paintings. It is mainly used in ornaments, which have far from only a decorative function, but enhance the content of the image and often co-create it. Štenclová is represented in the National Gallery in Prague and also in international collections, for example the J. and M. Jelínek Foundation in Switzerland and the Wing Shya Collection in Hong Kong.
David Strauzz (1976)
David uses techniques such as collage, decollage and assemblage, combining different materials and found or recycled objects, to give them new contexts. He finds inspiration
in urban culture, in the streets and among the people who use these places. As he himself says: "My aim is to abstract figures and portraits and challenge viewers to shed isolation and personal inhibitions, seek truth and authenticity in each work, while exercising their innate ability to create meaningful relationships with people and art through direct contact and interaction."
Strauzz was born in Canada, where his parents immigrated in the early 1970s. He studied at Beal Art College (London, Ontario) and then OCAD University in Toronto. In 2012, he moved to the USA, where he participated in several exhibitions in Boston and New York. As a citizen of the Czech Republic, he wanted to return and get to know his roots, so he settled in Prague in 2015 and became a resident artist at the Pragovka Art District.
In his works, he is interested in the impact of technology on human communication. He uses visual language based on the mental activity or process of acquiring knowledge and understanding through thought, experience and senses. He is also interested in how the gradual degradation of thinking, memory and vision affects the human personality.
Ladislav Vlna (1976)
For the past fifteen years Ladislav has been perfecting a unique technique that he developed himself and calls it "metallurgical painting.” The paintings are burned into steel plates without adding any other materials. The drawing is engraved into the material and the colors are extracted from the interior of the steel and its core by annealing, a heat treatment process.
The momentary incidental light plays an important role in the perception of the image, which is why the work looks quite different at various times of the day. His path to this technique emerged through working in his father's locksmith shop, where he often helped out in his childhood. He was fascinated by how the colors of metallic materials changed when exposed to fire. Ladislav Vlna explains that: "It is difficult to keep a steel plate flat when you apply fire to it. Getting the colors you want on the surface exactly where you want them and keeping it all together is a very challenging but beautiful job. Anyone who works with iron knows this well.”
Ladislav comes from Třebíč, later graduating from the Secondary School of Applied Arts in Uherské Hradiště and then the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague, where he still lives and works. He creates paintings and drawings, as well as sculptures for the public space. He mainly focuses on figures and portraits, but also technical and architectural compositions.
Zdenek Danek (1977)
In his work, he mainly focuses on the Czech landscape, the relationship between man and nature and problems emerging between society and nature. He paints realistically, but understands the image as a virtual reality that can be entered. He works with repainting, repair, error and thorough painting work that must be done, even if the result is not visible at first glance. He processes the theme of the landscape as a painting, video or animation.
Zdeněk was born in Pardubice, studied high school art in Prague, then painting and animated film at the Academy of Applied Arts and Sciences, finishing his studies at the Academy of Fine Arts with professor Z. Beran. He is a plein-air landscape painter, conceptual painter, amateur patriot, magical realist, environmental activist, animator and burianologist. In addition to freelance work, he also works as an illustrator, creates covers for albums and movie posters, and paints for museums and magazines.
Jan Jirovec (1976)
Jan Jirovec creates images, sculptures, objects and uses the possibilities of connecting them with each other. His work ranges from conceptual discipline to free improvisation, from objective realism to spontaneous expression. Jan is a renaissance-style visual artist straddling a wide field of means of expression. His work is programmatically eclectic, changeable, and consists of a number of parallels lines that continuously develop and expand. The focus and source of his work are traditional means of expression, often purely academic forms, to which he applies innovative technological procedures. From a content point of view, it is a more general, rather timeless level of existential questions, viewed through the relationship of man to the landscape, architecture and cultural tradition.
Jan Jírovec was born in Prague and attended high school in Bechyn, where he studied ceramics and porcelain. He then graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague, majoring in painting, sculpture and the New Media studio with Veronika Bromová. In 2014, he became a member of the artistic group Representation. He complements his artistic activities with varied activities in the field in the creative arts, such as the production of film props, 3D paintings and sculptural exhibits for the National Museum.
Alex Dowis (1979)
Alex is a world-renowned artist who introduced the general public to light-art, a modern art technique of light painting, in which light is applied to a special luminescent surface. The light drawings disappear after a while, creating an inimitable visual animation.
In 1996, Alex Dowis founded the art studio DOWIS, which was born from street art and the determination to bring street art closer to the general public. The studio focuses primarily on creation through light-art and sand-art techniques (painting with light and sand), and secondarily focuses on classical painting, drawing and creating comics. Over the years, he perfected his performance with a larger team, which is evidenced by the huge interest from corporations, theaters and other companies.
He shined with his performance in 2012 in the ČeskoSlovakia has talent competition, in which he advanced to the finals. In 2019, he was invited to the American version, America’s Got Talent, where he made it to the semi-finals and became an audience favorite.
Jakub Bechyně (1978)
Jakub is a producer, graphic artist and interior designer, mainly of bars and other commercial spaces, who first got into visual art thanks to graffiti and street art. He is currently fulfilling his dream of establishing a gallery and supporting young artists as the artistic director and one of the founders of the Illusion Art Museum Prague. Together with Patrik Proško, he owns the company Exponut, which creates the content not only of this museum, but also of other art-focused installations for leading global brands.
He was born in Prague and works here permanently, although he often traveled throughout Europe for work. He studied for a year in the USA (Oklahoma), and gained his first work experience in Falun, Sweden. His time abroad brought a new perspective on the world, enabling him to find a way to establish himself in it.
Today, he likes to paint with acrylics on canvases, but considers it only a hobby that he does not need to exhibit. He connects technology with art and has himself created technical exhibits such as the Day&Nite text anamorphosis and the Penrose triangle.
Enjoy interactive entertainment and expand your horizons
IAM Illusion Art Museum
Address:
Melantrichova 536/2
110 00 Praha 1 – Staré Město
Czech Republic
Phone:
+420 604 358 240
info@iamprague.eu
For information about prices for groups and accompanying programs for schools, please contact us. info@iamprague.eu
Become a part of Czech history
We combine entertainment with education. We place artistic illusion techniques in a historical context, highlighting the pioneers in each field, how they applied their skills, and how the perspective and perception of space developed over time. Some works are directly related to important figures and events from Czech history. You can participate in the Defenestration of Prague defenestration or the siege of Prague by the Swedes. Portrayals of St. Agnes of Bohemia, Bedřich Smetana, Antonín Dvořák, Tomáš Bata, St. Wenceslas, Nikola Tesla, Charles IV, Franz Kafka, Karel Čapek, Otto Wichterle, František Kupka and others await you.