09.06.2023 16:59:53 | Thirty years have passed since the Czech painter Tomáš Bím was asked create lithographic prints and drawings for Prostějov Czech Open tennis tournament in 1994. "I remember how pleased I was when given the offer years ago. I have had so many wonderful moments with tennis and still lifes at the old Štvanice Tennis Complex which are simply impossible to forget.
At that time I met hard-working tennis enthusiasts in Prostějov who were lead by my friend Mirek Černošek. I also met Milan Velko there. He always had a fibre of nobleness in him and I knew immediately I was among people of my sort. I watch Martina Hingis playing there and met Honza Kukal who was not only an excellent tennis expert but also a great connoisseur of art. When I learned he and the Prostějov club were the main organizers of the poster exhibitions of Alfons Mucha and that Ivan Lendl had flown from overseas to attend the opening day, I really had to pay tribute to their efforts.
The Prostějov team realized that art and sport were closely linked together. Of course, I’m happy about the fact that my graphics hang in the Prostějov Tennis Hotel and, therefore, they are in daily contact with my perception of tennis," said Tomáš Bím who has exhibited in Prostějov several times. The World Around Us exhibition, which introduced Group 42, was a great success. It presented works of Kamil Lhoták, František Gross, Jan Kotík, František Hudeček, Bohumír Matal, among others. Tomáš Bím joined a very noble company at that time. Bím's tournament motif has been used fourteen times in thirty-year history of the Prostějov Czech Open.
What is the motif for this year's 30th edition? Tennis is presented in absolute simplicity, perhaps even nakedness: an abandoned ball in wrinkled clay, alone, on its own. Nothing else! Do not look back, you are here and play! If Tomáš Bím does not paint anything else for the Prostějov tournament anymore, no other motive, the last one is telling everything. Here you are, live, and act.
