DSC Gallery in Prague, Czech Republic is currently running a final week of a two men show which brings together works by the German artist, Dennis Scholl, and Czech artist, Adam Stech. From Arcadia to Dystopia is aiming to re-awaken the conversations of Modernism from the late 19th and early 20th centuries and reflect on the current state of the world by putting a focus on self-consciousness or self-reference and human nature.

The works by the two artists might not be using the same visual language to tell their individual narratives, but the complementing color palettes, relatable ambiance, and interest in similar subject matter construct a compelling presentation. Where Scholl's smoothly rendered charcoal and pencil on paper or oils on wood evoke dreamy visions and ambiguity, Stech's raw and textured oils and mosaics present a more fragmented and troubled state of being. The elegant uniformity of one body of work is further contrasting the eclectic mixture of scenes in the other, therefore covering everything from the harmonious arcadia to the frightening dystopia.

Building his work on the legacy of cubism Stech's work is both repurposing the concepts and aesthetics of masterpieces from art history, while literally using their elements to construct his collaged imagery. Often contrasting different components from unrelated styles or works to construct a contemporary image, the finished visuals are imbued with irony and humor. With a noticeable influence by socialist realism aesthetic and attitude, his deconstructed and re-constructed subjects are re-examining the human existence with a focus on self-consciousness, from a contemporary point of view. Further on, the artist's experimentation with form extends to the use of unexpecting techniques such as mosaics which accentuate the fragility of his subjects.

The fragility and ambiguity are some of the main traits of Scholl's mystical imagery that exist on the meeting point between the delicate harmony and unrelenting unease. "I am very much interested in emblems, their structure and how meaning is conveyed and stories are told through them," the artist told Juxtapoz about the psychological place in which his visuals are taking place. "Most of the time my images revolve around a tension between tenderness and brutality/aggression. I want them to be suspended in stasis, crystallized, and idiosyncratic." This duality comes to the light through the contrast between the velvety surfaces which envelope the charcoal, color pencil, or oil pictures and somewhat menacing expressions of his androgynous subjects. Physically placed in a fictive yard with bustling nature, these particular works are from his Le Jardin Jaune series which might reveal the influences by Chardin, Gauguin, Philipp Otto Runge, William Blake, and early Lucian Freud. The artist insists on obscurity and a more fluid perspective when creating the images in which the protagonists with purposely unclear gender or ethnicity traits become equally foreign and universal at the same time. —Sasha Bogojev