There are countries in the world where an artist like David Černý would have long been in prison—or worse. But in the Czech Republic, this creator with no respect for all that the nation holds sacred is celebrated as the country’s most famous contemporary sculptor.  

David Černý turned fifty years old a long time ago, but in many ways he is still a boy who refuses to grow up. His ego has expanded to a size unusual even for an artist; he’s recently started celebrating it at a museum devoted to his art which he himself founded. Good taste, subtlety, and political correctness are notions which Černý never adopted, because he has never even tried to become acquainted with them. In the 1990s he was the creative golden child of political transformation, and today he’s a relic of that era. The way his art develops is quantitative: Černý produces more work more quickly, and for more money, but in an artistic sense he’s standing still. There is an ongoing discussion whether he is even a good sculptor or rather a capable showman, someone akin to a rock star who fills the streets of Prague with his creations instead of playing the guitar.