Botticelli's Legacy

In his artworks, Kristek often formulates his opinion on the ‘contribution’ of our civilization and our relationship to the legacy of our ancestors. In his assemblage Botticelli’s Legacy, he used an off-the-shelf concrete cast inspired by the motif from the famous painting The Birth of Venus by the Italian painter Sandro Botticelli (1445–1510). Kristek’s choice points to the commercial misuse of significant artworks whose imitations are sold as a variation of garden gnomes.
Venus found herself in our toxic times where one can breathe only using a gas mask. The legacy of our ancestors is burdened with chains, bonds and weights. No one can escape anywhere.
In Venus’ abdomen, embryos of a beast are cast, which probably symbolize the new offspring that will be born from those conditions.
Kristek’s idea of ‘warnings’ crystalized into a whiteand-blue rod. In his oeuvre, it fulfills the function of a space–time exclamation mark. It draws attention to a key cirumstance. In our hands, the legacy of our ancestors is malignantly transformed.