Only a short ferry-hop across the Lipno Lake lies a pretty, small town of Aigen - just over the Austrian border. And if Cesky Krumlov is a supposed centre of art and artists in the South of Bohemia, its close Austrian neighbour might beat it hands down in being more bohemian still, in a truly wonderful, outrageous fashion.
This is because it became the home of a British gallerist, Nicholas Treadwell, who moved his famous British gallery here, of all places - into the back of beyond, where he bought the historic
Aigen courthouse and town jail, painted it all pink, inside and outside, and voila!, filled it with his collection of paintings and sculptures in what he calls a 'superhumanist' style.
His large, fabulous collection ranges from meticulously over-realistic humans, usually in a state of some surprise or torment, to funny, joky, super-colourful views of life as his artists would see it - mostly again with a thorn in the joke somewhere.
Nicholas Treadwell himself is a charismatic man who clearly loves his life in art, and the artists he represents. Besides art, he indulges in theatre and plays music, an iconoclastic figure who proudly puts on his advertising leaflets a quote from a Guardian critic:
'Nicholas Treadwell has done for fine art, what McDonald has done for haute cuisine'.If you have a few days in Cesky Krumlov, do take a trip there: it only takes half an hour or so. You drive to the Lipno lake and take a delightful ferry ride, and then on through a deep dark forest (empty of humans or dwellings, as this used to be the 'no-man's land' of the ex-Iron Curtain), descending into Aigen which in itself is worth a trip for its Austrian chocolate-box pretty-ness. How apt for the bad taste which Treadwell so loves :-)
When we got there, we were greeted by the man himself, dressed and coiffured in pink, and although there were only three of us, we were given a 2-hr tour with so much information, detail and anecdotes, that it felt like a huge privilege, a true 'insider' view that you simply don't get anywhere else. Certainly not at the immensely boring and stuck-up, grant-fat Egon Shiele centre gallery in Cesky Krumlov!
More on Nicholas Treadwell and his gallery here
: take a look.
That's because Nicholas Treadwell, the British gallerist who has made a new(ish) home for his collection in the historic Aigen jail, was holding a party and giving a show - a 'must' occassion for anyone who cares for the arts, but mainly for the wonderful man himself. 
As I said in my previous blog 
about the man and his gallery, Nicholas likes pink - he painted the jailhouse pink inside and out, he himself wears nothing but pink, even his hair is pink. And his collection - in what he calls a Superhumanism style - abounds in representations of super-realistic pink flesh, be it human or animal. Apart from other things of course, but perhaps that's for another blog, because now I want to share with you moments from the party: 
Nicholas himself was the star of course, playing a pink Wizard battling the forces of darkness. For his cast he assembled his artist friends; puppeteers, painters, sculptors, dancers, musicians - his son was brilliant on percussion.
I was privileged to be there for all the rehearsals and enjoyed those as much as the resulting show which was still pretty improvised and chaotic, but all the more electrifying for it. That's because the energy driving the show, and the whole of the occassion, is one of extreme generosity of spirit.
And it was with the same spirit that everyone in the multi-national audience came: dressed from elegant to fabulously weird creations - the 'goodies' in pink, the 'baddies' in black, as prescribed. After the main show there was much improvised music till the small hours, but what amazed me was that while the party was going on in the garden, the whole gallery - its many rooms full of valuable artefacts - was open and people were wondering around unsupervised, and later bedding down among the crucified pigs and 3 metres high fat nudes made of silicon. I myself slept under a 3 foot high lactating sow with her entrails hanging out - stuff to feed my dreams for years to come :-) - the juxtaposition of this sometimes brutal imagery with the soft largesse and kindness of Nicholas's soul being the mark of this genius gallerist's style. And should it seem to a casual observer that the collection is of extremes and eccentricity, this is not so at all: it is a serious, deeply moving testament of a lifetime's dedication to life - inner and outer - both in its beautiful and its ugly forms. Just as it is.
So - Long live the United Pinkdom!
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