David Čáp

The versatile visual artist David Čáp moves between Teplice, Prague and Kralupy nad Vltavou. His work is characterized by a strong desire to experiment and discover new techniques and means of expression. He is involved in various types of artistic creation, including painting, drawing, tattooing and the creation of functional objects.

His works are characterized by an innovative approach and the use of unusual materials.
“For a long time I have been attracted to creating something more spatial than the paintings or tattoos that I otherwise do. Papier-mâché seemed ideal to me from the beginning. It’s a perfectly simple technique. It doesn’t require any tools or materials, and has decent qualities for creating furniture or other objects. It can be modelled in a similar way to clay. One sees the rough shape very quickly and does not have to sculpt or carve it at length. It is also forgiving of mistakes – you simply cut off the failed part, soak it and reuse the resulting mass.”

The three papier-mâché objects were hand-modelled by David Čáp. Only from a mixture of shredded paper, water and glue applied to the upcycled structures. The paper would otherwise have ended up in the trash, just like the construction of the found chairs. From these he cut away what he found disturbing and replaced it with a papier-mâché mixture. At other times, he made the structure himself from scraps of fibreboard and shaped it in his own way. The origin is then evident in the final form. Sometimes the original form defines the final shape, sometimes it is is completely independent of it. 

David Čáp has approached the creation of the chairs as he does in painting pictures – he also applies found materials in which he dips the canvases, draws on them with sand or dips them in sea water.