Figments (and other stuff)
Petr Válek
The low-cost catalog with the author's signed and numbered CD reflects the exhibition Shelters (and other vermin) by the musician and artist Petr Válek.
In the publication, in addition to a mixture of his images, sounds, drawings and photographs, there are texts by the curator of the exhibition Miloš Vojtěchovský, music publicist Pavel Klusák or the owner of the publishing house Endemit Archives Tomáš Procházka. Petr Válek lives and works in Loučná nad Desnou in the Hrubý Jeseník mountains. The town was called Vízmberk, or Wiesenberg, until the end of the war. The world-famous pianist and poet Alfred Brendel also comes from here, he was born there in 1931.
Válek was trained as a stonemason, worked as a nurse in a retirement home, and now lives as an artist. He has been involved in painting, drawing, illustrations and music since childhood. In recent years, he has also been building mechanical and electro-mechanical sound instruments, various self-propelled or kinetic objects from household items. He records "instructional" videos, which he publishes on Facebook.
Review of Petr Válek's performance HERE.
From his improvised studio within a rural setting he experiments with instrument building, creating sound from kinetic objects, and recording obscure tutorials to share via his Facebook page.