the guardian of culture Painting

ABOUT ME I was born in Bratislava, Slovakia in 1981. When I was twelve years old I moved with my parents to London, United Kingdom. There I started to pursue art more seriously. After completing a foundation course in art at the Wimbledon School of Art in the year 2000 I chose to move back to Slovakia to study at the Academy of Art & Design in Bratislava. Until last summer I lived in Prague, Czech Republic where I was working as a scenic painter at the National Theatre in Prague. At the moment, I'm choosing to live a slightly more nomadic lifestyle :) ABOUT MY WORK I successfully completed the BA/MA Painting course at The Academy of Fine Arts and Design Bratislava, Slovakia in 2008. Subsequently, I moved to Prague, Czech Republic where I had lived and worked until last summer. My work reflects my everyday reality, confronted with the seemingly distant images from the media. Ideas and concepts from my Eastern European background mix with more global imagery. I think that there is a feeling of alienation present in my work. I moved frequently all my life so, I feel like a bit of an outsider everywhere. I feel that there is an effort from my side to invent a legitimate place/space for this hybrid way of seeing things, which comes through in my art. Most of my work deals with the human condition. The work itself is sometimes critical, often towards itself and painting in general. It is also very important for me not to let my art-production become sterile. I want to keep the viewer on the edge without allowing him/her to easily bracket the work. I try to deal with issues that are personal, as well as with more general topics that are relevant for today. Coming from a more working class background, I did not get into art through high art culture and galleries, but quite the opposite, through comics, illustration and punk. This tension between the high and low in culture and art is something I still like to play around with. Working in series allows me more freedom. I can change my approach from one series to the next both stylistically and thematically. For each series I am able to choose a visual language best suited to what I am trying to get across to the viewer. In each series I decide on how descriptive or open the work should be to the audience. Although, I often choose the latter, preferring not to force my views and opinions on anyone, I try to stay away from presenting issues in a black and white, good vs. bad manner.