ADÉLA JANSKÁ

Naked as Paper

Artist Reception: April 30th, 6-8 PM

April 30th - May 25th, 2024

"Naked as Paper” is Adéla Janská’s first exhibition with half gallery and her debut solo show in New York City.  She cites a strong tradition of fellow Czech painters as points of admiration in her evolution: Milada Marešová, Věra Jičínská and the magical realist Vlasta Vostřebalová-Fischer, who was the first woman to study at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague. While someone like Jeff Koons has also employed porcelain figurines as subject matter, her draw to them does not involve any regal association. Adéla buys figurines from Bavarian and Bohemian factories in Ditmar- Urbach Teplice and Horní Slavkov, which imbue the pieces with a totemic specificity. To her, the figurines are avatars for her own fictional selves: impenetrable yet fragile. Conversely, Adéla explores ideas relating to the phenomenological, a philosophy stressing the importance of lived experience. To that end, an encounter with Slavic mythology in 2020 opened a new vein in her studio practice.

“I was invited to participate in a group exhibition organized by the Dom Twórcy Kadenowka Foundation, founded by the artist Paulina Ołowska. The connection between the ancient past and the present through Slavic goddesses was absolutely fascinating. In the setting of the Polish countryside in a villa from the 1930s that represents regional wooden architecture, it is hard to avoid the captivating atmosphere that is absolute and omnipresent. A powerful moment was the fact that the opening took place in a small group with the artists who together welcomed spring with an ancient ceremony called the ‘Bringing forth of Death.’ It was especially evocative for me as someone who has lived my whole life in an urban environment. Through art we were able make a deep connection with mythology and folklore to update and bring to life these female deities in a different way. “