Galerie Gema
Gallery Gema was founded in March 1990, as the first private gallery in Prague. From then until 1999, it was located in the center of Prague, on the ground floor of the Dominican monastery at 8 Husova Street in the Old Town. Despite fears that the space of less than twenty square meters will be too small to present the artist in sufficient scope, it soon became clear that this limit, on the contrary, led to a careful and well-thought-out selection. Thanks to this, the gallery soon gained a reputation among both the lay and professional public. The circle of authors who were presented in this gallery belonged and is among the best Czech artists. Among others, let us name Václav Boštík, Daisy and Jiří Mrázek, Adriena Šimotová, and younger authors include Pavel Mühlbauer, Vladimír Novák or Jakub Stretti. The openings of the exhibitions became a place of regular meetings of the cultural elite and many ideas were born on the sidewalk in front of the Gema Gallery. In 1999, after eight years of operation in Husova Street, Galerie Gema moved to the House of the Two Wild Men in Řetězová Street. She worked here until 2001. She continued to work in non-public premises in Celetná 17, and moved her activities mainly abroad.
In addition, since 2001, the Gema Gallery, in cooperation with various institutions, has held a number of exhibitions both in the Czech Republic (Mikuláš Medek in the Rudolfinum Gallery, 2002; Jiří Sopko and Karel Nepraš, double exhibition project at Prague Castle, 2002; Ivan Ouhel, Kolowrat Palace in Prague, 2009, Jan Šafránek, exhibition double project in the premises of the Municipal House in Prague and the Gema Gallery in Máchova Street, 2017, etc.), as well as abroad (Jiří Sopko, L'Association Le Pont Neuf, Paris, 2002-2003; Jaroslava Bičovská, Czech Center in Dresden, 2007, Jiří Sopko Czech Center in Paris, 2015 etc.). Alternatively, Gema participated in exhibitions with loans from managed collections (Fr. Hudeček, GHMP, 2006; Václav Boštík, GHMP, 2011; Rudolf Steiner, DOX Prague, 2011; Karel Nepraš, DOX Prague, 2012, etc.).
At the very end of March 2016, after the Gema Gallery firmly established itself on the world market, it opened a new public exhibition hall for pleasure, at Máchova 27, 120 00 Prague 2 - Vinohrady, and the Gema collectors' club was established, which brings together important art lovers.
Between 2016 and 2020, dozens of exhibitions were held in the Gema Gallery in Máchova Street, making the space a venue for the presentation of the work of leading contemporary artists, including Jiří Sopko, Václav Bláha, Pavel Mühlbauer, Jaroslava Bičovská and Jan Šafránek. The gallery's collections have also been used to create several exhibitions of important artists such as the Válovy sisters, Jiří Mrázek, Jiří Beránek and Karel Appel. The gallery continued to work in cooperation with other institutions and realized exhibition projects throughout the country.
After the Covid period, when the cultural scene went quiet for a while, came the idea of transforming the Gema Gallery exhibition hall into a place where art meets good coffee and becomes an aesthetically visual experience. And so, in 2023, the doors of a small espresso bar with a unique design opened, where one can not only enjoy a selection of coffee but also get a glimpse of the art showroom, which is also a space to meet important collectors and where the most interesting gallery projects are given birth.
In 2022, Galerie Gema, in collaboration with Museum Kampa, presented a successful three-floor retrospective exhibition of Jiří Sopko at Sovovy mlýny to mark his 80th birthday.