Stavitelé – Štorm František (2020)

A tribute to craftsmen who are not. Creative spirits. Illustrated construction diary. The obligation to keep a construction diary arises from the law. If kept by an artist, it is no wonder that they mix technical data with their own imagination. Irrational ideas have a greater urgency than a dry work report. Half of the book consists of 36 drawings made with carpenter's, mason's, and joiner's pencils, in a square format of 20 cm: geometrically universal tiled peepholes open a somewhat pataphysical view of the construction process in South Bohemia. The author's book by František Štorm, Builders, is a loose compilation of everyday notes and inner feelings experienced during the renovation of an old house, the main part of which is currently being transformed into a studio. The anticipation of a creative space evokes a series of colorful ideas captured in a cycle of illustrations. Against the backdrop of banal cottage life, existential dramas unfold, amplified by visits from strange creatures at the construction site. The author identifies his body with the house and looks forward to the completion of the construction as the healing of scars from excavators, hammers, and saws. An artist forced by circumstances into manual labor is rewarded at the end of the ordeal with new inspiration that will come from an unexpected direction - from the builders.