Vladimír Skrepl (1955), the laureate of the Michal Ranný Prize in 2008, has been one of the most influential and important figures on the Czech art scene since the 1980’s. Yet, in spite of his extensive artistic activities and work as a teacher at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague he remains something of an anomaly in the eyes of “serious art critics” and art historians which cannot be side-stepped but completely eludes being grasped.
As a self-taught artist (Skrepl studied between 1976-1981 at the Department of Art History and Ethnography of the Brno Faculty of Arts) unrestricted by formal boundaries and with a passionate interest in what was happening on the art scene he was accused of overt receptivity, although it was clear from the start that his creative leanings incline towards explorations in the field of responses of the creative subject to the affective impulses using a loose, expressive and thoughtful form taking into consideration the limits or cliches of the particular medium (painting, installation). The exhibition, held on the occasion of awarding Vladimír Skrepl with the Michal Ranný Prize, by the Moravian Gallery in Brno will provide the general public with the first opportunity to experience the energy and high standard of his work. The Michal Ranný Prize is announced every two years by the Association of the Friends of the Moravian Gallery and the Moravian Gallery in Brno to highlight the work of an outstanding artist which is both formally and content-wise essentially contributing to Czech visual culture. The prize has been awarded since 1999 and is intended for Czech-based visual artists and has no age or nationality restrictions. The first laureate of the Michal Ranný Prize was Dalibor Chatrný, followed by Miroslav Šnajdr st., Stanislav Kolíbal and Jiří Kovanda. This time the jury comprised of Eduard Schmidt, Jana Ševčíková, Marek Pokorný, Sandra Kusá, Jiří Kroupa, Jiří Havlíček, Vít Havránek unanimously voted for the head of Painting School II at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague, painter, creator of objects and installations Vladimír Skrepl (1955). The Michal Ranný Prize is awarded every two years by the Friends of the Moravian Gallery Society and the Moravian Gallery in Brno. Its objective is to draw attention to the work of an outstanding figure who has substantially enriched Czech visual culture in terms of both content and form. The Prize has been organised since 1999 and is awarded to Czech artists regardless of age and citizenship. Michal Ranný (1946 Brno - 1981 Prague) - a prominent figure in modern Czech painting, a leading exponent of lyrical abstraction whose work blends the natural with the existential, a painter who died before him time. He inspired a number of artists, and himself followed in the footsteps of Jiří John; a protagonist of the painting style associated with Josef Šíma, Robert Hliněnský and Václav Boštík.
