Clifford Chance

Clifford Chance's first ever Prague Arcus Pride Art happened under the umbrella of the office's annual client party as a vibrant pop-up exhibition in partnership with Trafo Gallery presenting the art work of renowned Czech artists Ivan Pinkava and Veronika Holcová.

Trafo Gallery, located in the historic former slaughterhouse of Prague's Holešovice Market Hall, has been a prominent private exhibition hall in the Czech Republic since its establishment in 2006. Dedicated to showcasing the works of exceptional artists beyond the founders' generation, Trafo Gallery holds a unique vision in the art world.

Four artists, Jan Kaláb, Jakub Nepraš, Michal Cimala, and Blanka Čermáková, played pivotal roles in the gallery's foundation as the former Trafáčka. Today, they continue to shape the compelling exhibition programme, ensuring that it remains a vibrant platform for creative expression and societal exploration.

From its inception, Trafo Gallery has been a bastion of support for the LGBTQ+ community. Recognizing the importance of inclusivity and representation, the gallery and its passionate team have consistently championed LGBTQ+ artists, their stories, and their unique perspectives.

One of the connecting lines that runs through all of Pinkava's work is the body, its physical essence and the symbolic functions derived from it. Corporeality is one of the basic building blocks of his work, no matter whether this corporeality is revealed through images of faces and real human bodies or through recordings of various non-human objects. They are all experienced as distinctly corporeal, whether by the manner of their creation, their subject matter, or the simple awareness that the human body is the only "tool" that allows us daily and holiday contact with the world in all its forms.

Holcová's paintings are poetic and fragile, straddling the line between painting and brushwork, combining the looseness of randomly formed patches with elaborate details. They emerge gradually as the result of a long process and intense concentration.
They mainly depict landscapes that are familiar and real at first glance, or that resemble real places. They are meditative, dreamlike and a little disturbing because they hide a special secret. The primary intention is not to faithfully depict visible reality, but to express its essence. The depiction of the landscape thus acquires a metaphysical overlap.