The artist’s starting point is classic figural statuary. This platform has been, however, transformed thanks to material, measuring and thematic shifts. The artist works mainly with a figural „type“ and not with concrete shapes or individuality. Her figures are characterised by their clothing and their stances (but still those of statue type). There is no individual expression present here, no one defined basis of feeling or singular gesture. The character is displayed on the basis of generality that emphasises the chosen measure of the moment and reduction of movement. Concrete features are limited by possibilities for processing non-traditional material – polystyrene. This material eliminates details and personal approach to textural qualities. The figures are non-personal, general, as if frozen in definite poses. This freezing in stone plays out however in synthetic material. It is thus a version of classicism enabled by modern industry and technology. This pose is also not traditional in the sense of marked gestures recalling emotional or thought trends. This is a rather mundane approach, as if cut out from commercial ad pictures. The significant size of the figures indicates the burden that paradoxically is missing here. Ms. Bornová leaves the surface of the material in its natural white state or covers it with paint or other materials (fish scales, etc.).
The material however is at least partially accepted and conspicuously display in the viewer’s gaze. The artist’s works are most noticeable by their absence of detail. They are an alternative to the course of modern culture, a course that is obsessively self-absorbed in diverse details, cuts and exaggerations that appear in the broad field between utilitarian, popular and artistic representations. The artist, by reducing the close-up view, returns to pre-modern strategies, mainly those classicising character (as indicated by the meaning of white colour). The marked volume of the figures, contemplation of mass, and super-individual traits help make this strategy effective. Meanwhile the story takes place in the realm of fantasy, desire and dream. The artificial world and dream join together here in oneness, commenting on the nature of consumer culture.
Erika Bornová
Studies:
1983-1988 Academy of Fine Arts Prague
1979-1983 SOŠV Praha
Residencies, stipends:
2002 – Mikulov arts symposiem, Workshop, Mikulov
2004 – Sculptural studio Bubec, Prague
Marta Smolíková: Erika Bornová – Paintings and Sculptures:
http://truxart.com/finearts/bornova/index.htm
Selection:
2008
I Will do Everything, Via Art Gallery, Prague
2006
Landscape and People, Gallery of Art, Karlovy Vary
2004
Heaven on Earth-Sleep in Peace, Via Art Gallery, Prague
2003
Linea Pura Gallery, Prague
Czech Cultural Center, Berlin, Germany
2001
Emil Filla Gallery, Ustí nad Labem
Gallery At the White Unicorn, Klatovy
2000
Under the Cover, MXM Gallery, Prague (together with Ivana Lomová)
1999
Vaclav Spala Gallery, Prague
1998
Planá Gallery, Planá near Marianske Lazne
1997
Jester Gallery, Ceska Trebova
1995
Moravska Trebova Museum
Albin Up Gallery, Oslo, Norway
1993
Radost Gallery, Prague
MXM Gallery, Prague (together with Tomas Cisarovsky)
1991
Gallery of Young Artist, Prague
1990
Cultural Center of Blatiny, Prague (together with Katerina Stenclova)
1989
Exhibition Hall of the Semafor Theater, Prague
Selection:
2010
Formats of Transformation 89-09, MUSA Museum Auf Abruf, Vienna
2009
Behind the Velvet Curtain, American University Museum at the Katzen Arts Center, Washington, D.C.
Formats of transformation 89-09, The Brno House of Arts, Brno
2008
Muzzles,Bills,Proboscis, Califia Gallery, Chateau of Horažďovice
Grenzenfresser, Kulturfabrik Helfenberg, Austria
2006
Sigmund Freud: Life-Dream, City Gallery, Prague
2004
Certain traces, POST Gallery, Santa Monica, California
Certain traces, Karlín, Prague
2002
Sexaulog, Antwerpen, Belgium, Toscany Palace, Prague
Insideout, Bunker, Actions Gallery, Berlin, Germany
Czech Cultural Center, Berlin
Two Ends of the Century, House at the Black Madonna, Prague
2001
Sexaulog Gallery of Austrian Parlament, Vienna
Melancholy, Moravian Gallery, Brno
1999 Hommage a Franz Kafka, Augsburg, Germany, Dancing House, Prague
Girls Show, MXM Gallery, Prague
1998
Misplaced Contract, Faust House, Prague
1996
Winking Game, MXM Gallery, Prague
Real Love, Velryba Gallery, Prague
Richter Villa, Prague
1994
Maulkorb, Gallery of J. Fragner, Prague
1992
Arts from Central Europe, Grado, Italy
1991
Ch.Weinmann Gallery, Paris, France
1990
Studios, Fronta Gallery, Prague Les artistes a la Bastille, France
Ceiling of the Sparkys House of Toys, Prague
Center for Modern and Contamporary Arts of the National Gallery in Prague, Mikolas Ales Gallery of Southern Bohemia-Hluboka nad Vltavou, private collections in the Czech Republic and abroad
