Wilderness Painting

Dagmar Hrickova *1988 Born in the Czech Republic and now based in the outskirts of New York, Dagmar Hrickova has lived her life as somewhat of a nomad, taking inspiration from her ever-changing surroundings to create truly conceptual and thought-provoking art. Hricková's inspiration steers away from "˜the niceties of the world, and she has discovered that true beauty, for her, lies tucked away in the edges of society. Dagmar's work has a phantasm feel to it, with moody landscapes, dark figures, and distorted faces. When analyzing her paintings there is definitely an overwhelming sense of escapism that is created, which seems to reflect Hricková's visual objective, she claims to have no desire to engage with realism in her work. In more recent years she has focused on the effect children have on her, whom she says she enjoys teaching and in turn learning from, depicting their expressions and the wisdom she sees in their faces. Most of her paintings are made from oil on canvas or a combined technique, and her artistic inspiration stems from artists such as Alyssa Monks and the Australian sibling duo Angus and Julia Stone, Dagmar also claims to spend a lot of time residing in The Tate Modern where she finds herself lost in observation of the people around her. Following her completion of an American Arts certificate at UCLA, Hricková has gone on to make quite a name for herself in the art world. She has displayed her work at several shows globally in addition to her recent accomplishment of "˜Showdown Finalist' for the Saatchi in 2011. Year 2012 brings Dagmar an array of opportunities, one of which is finishing a book cover for an American Novelist, as well as further scheduled shows. Here at Schön! we are completely absorbed in Hricková's work to date and were excited to see where her endless travels and people watching will take her paintings in the future.