Veronika Drahotová puts to use a variety of creative processes – creation of paintings, photography, installations, objects, etc. Her aim is a visual attack on the viewer, served up in an emphatic manner. Behind her artefacts there is generally a well-thought-out concept; nonetheless, the artist attempts to retranslate them into exuberant sensibility (sensuality). This is indicated in her light projects (Castle in the Sky, 1998 etc.) and in her most recent paintings. The chosen material (gel, leather, etc.) often plays a significant role in her objects. These evoke intense feelings among viewers: ones that can be as intense as disgust or, to the contrary, delight. Her latest paintings distinguish themselves with a complicated biological structure, through which body fragments, symbols and linear structures have grown. It’s a sort of thought buzz: the intergrowing of corporal and spiritual activities. Its basic formation is a sort of living unit (a cell, an ovum …) that dangerously expands to swallow all space. The figure is no longer distanced from the space. To the contrary, it is cramped inside a living tissue, in which it inhabits in a symbiosis of life and death. In psychoanalytical terms: the world’s symbolical order falls apart (the distance between subject and object) and an abjective phase of existence begins – a return to indistiguishability. Even occasional rational constructions do not erase the feeling of dissatisfaction, indeed disgust. As the poet says: it got mixed up…
Veronika Drahotová
Studies:
1990-1991 Střední umělecko-průmyslová škola v Praze
1991-1992 Výtvarná škola Václava Hollara v Praze
1992-2000 Academy of Fine Arts Prague, atelier of Jiří David, Jiří Sopko and Zdeněk Beran
Stipends:
1995 San Francisco Art Institute, USA
Activities, employment:
2002-2004 vedla galerii HOME v Praze
Art-fairs participations:
2002 Art Frankfurt, galerie Chromosome, D
2008
Memplex Rip Veroniky Drahotové. Blansko online, 17. 1. 2008
Když sex slouží ke komunikaci i ovládání. iDNES.cz, 29. 4. 2008
Sex ve městě (Sexismus? v Galerii Václava Špály). Unborn, 20. 5. 2008
Sex ve městě. NEKULTURA.CZ, 21. 5. 2008
2007
Útěk z bezpečí. Atelier 1/07, str. 6
Spleen & Ideal. A2 13/2007
2005
S kůží na trh. Reflex 28/2005, str. 18-22
2003
Zrcadla. Reflex 06/2003, str. 28-34
Selection:
2013
Theory of Nothing, Berlínskej model,Prague
2012
12, Gambit Gallery, Prague
Sugar Choice, Prinz Prager Gallery, Prague
The Locked Camber`s Challenge, Uffo Gallery
2011
THEY_I (with Nikola Semotanova), Trafacka Gallery, Prague
2009
MEMPLEX CITY, Icon Gallery,Prague
2008
MEMPLEX RIP,Galerie Blansko, CZ
2005
AUTOREVERS, Galerie Kritiků, Praha, CZ
2004
Předbežná orientace, Galerie Chromozome, Berlin, D
2004
ALI-EN-ACE. Galerie FUTURA, Praha, CZ
2002
Latest Art, Vernon Fine Art, Praha, CZ
2001
GRAVE, galerie Remont, Bělehrad, YU
Mind the Heart, galerie Behemot, Praha, CZ
Obloha je prázdná, galerie U černého pavouka, Ostrava, CZ
1999
Přátelé navždy, galerie Pecka, Praha, CZ
1998
See Through, České centrum, Brusel, Belgie
1996
Fiona Whitney Gallery, Wilcox L.A., USA
2008
Spleen & Ideal, Karlín studios, Praha, CZ
Sexismus, galerie Vaclava Spaly , Praha, CZ
2007
Spleen & Ideal, Galerie Brno, Bánská Bystrica, CZ, SK
Vitamin P, Galerie Bastart, Bratislava, Košice, SK
2006
Stop násilí na ženách, Praha, CZ
MULTIPLACE, Bratislava, SK
Videobus, Praha – Brno, CZ
Czech Point, NOGallery, www.nogallery.info
Sigmund Freud – Život a sen, Staroměstská radnice, Praha, CZ
Runaway, Galerie Priestor, Bratislava, SK
SAFE, Karlín Studios, Praha, CZ
2005
MULTIPLACE, Bratislava , SK
LEBKA, Galerie AVU, Praha, CZ
Beauty Free Shop, Praha, CZ
2004
Na Dosah, HOME Gallery, Prague, CZ
Eastern Alience, TOE, Berlin, D
Vision, Galerie Vision a galerie Toki, Tokyo , Japonsko
Čistá krása, Galerie kritiků, Praha CZ
2003
ELEKTROBOT, Praha, CZ
INOUT, Budapest, Hungary 2003: INOUT, Prague, CZ
Pretty Comunication, galerie PRIESTOR, Bratislava, SK
TAIL, Twig Gallery,NYC, USA
2002
In Between, Czech Centr, NYC, USA
2001
Femme Fatal, Kutná Hora, CZ
Umělci pro Umělce, galerie Tvrdohlaví, Praha, CZ
To Flow To, galerie Chromosome, Berlín, D
FOTOK, Meo, Budapešť, H
2000
(tři tečky), NoD, Praha
Open Air, Exodus, Praha
ARTESKO, Polyfonic arts in Prague
Jižní záležitost, České Budějovice, CZ
Zdroje nových stylů, Jízdárna Pražského hradu, CZ
Training, Bratislava – Košice, SK
Story, NoD, Praha
Bohemian Birds, Kunst Haus, Drážďany, SRN
1999
Open gallery, Praha
No Sex Until Marriage, Praha
1998
Umělecké dílo ve veřejném prostoru, realizace projektů, Praha
Zelená, galerie AVU, Praha
1997
Umělecké dílo ve veřejném prostoru, výstava konceptů ve Veletržním paláci, Praha
1995
In and Out, San Francisco, USA
1994
Obrazy, galerie Prsten, Praha
