Downey Brad (USA)

Brad Downey is an American artist living in Berlin who travels around the world for his artistic experiences. He also has one of his bases in Slovenia. In the role of a street sculptor, he gives new dimensions to ordinary things. Brad is an artist with a very fresh vision of a city, an eye for detail and an intelligent sense of humour. He expresses himself through painting, drawing, spontaneous installations, film and artistic intervention in public space. His often provocative and temporary art works with a moment of surprise and is directed against the system, social stereotypes and the routine perception of the organism of the city. The form and theme of his works always depend on the given place, its history, current social situation and atmosphere.

In Pilsen, Brad Downey was inspired by a large tin communist star from the roof of the former Communist Party Regional Committee building on today‘s Americká Street. The star, which had been sitting on the roof of the building since the fall of the communist regime, was stored behind the DEPO2015 building after a happening in 2019. With his typical dose of humour, but against the background of a very current and serious topic, the artist created a giant carousel for hamsters, which he named Over And Over. It thus refers to the neverending absurdity and senselessness of political ideologies, whose proponents, in an attempt to achieve some goal, like a hamster in its wheel, keep running in a circle, only to find themselves at the beginning time and again. Downey‘s carousel is, in the context of today, a symbol of the very fact that, despite countless lessons, history keeps repeating itself.