My name is Monika Zakova and I am from the Czech Republic, living alternately between Prague and the countryside. I devote myself to painting, through which I apply my interests in the surface, depth and volatile nature of spatial experience. I work with various materials such as cotton, aluminium, or plaster. The painting is not about what is visible, but about what is hidden and takes place in the mind. I am drawn to beauty itself, which contains an element of imperfection. Through my sensitivity, I would like to reach the deeper realms of human spirituality. I intend to create images filled with light and purity that will bring back memories of the finest feelings we are forced to repress.
I am most delighted when a viewer tells me about their feelings they experience when in contact with my work. That the work captivates the attention with its subtlety, but also surprises with its energy. I believe that, just as people do, works of art can create interpersonal relationships with us and can provide us with inexplicable and inexpressible feelings, such as “happiness.”
It is through my practice, that I blur the boundaries between craft and art, abstraction and representation. Accepting that there are contradictory things valid at the same time. I can think of this as “thinking in non-exclusive ways,” which is the opposite of binary logic built on contrasts (truth x lie). Art has freed me from the naive division of the world into what is external and what is internal, what is substantial and what is accidental, and what is matter and what is mind.
It is this dialogue that serves as the biggest inspiration for me. I appreciate different ideas and opinions that allow me to learn something new. The more perspectives we engage in through dialogue, the more opportunity for learning we get. As someone who is interested in visual imagery, I am also inspired by the purity of the original materials that I try to let stand out. “Matter” plays an active role in the creation of its own form, it is dominant and the artist is in equal dialogue with it. My favorite work is always in the future, what is just about to be born.
It is this dialogue that serves as the biggest inspiration for me. I appreciate different ideas and opinions that allow me to learn something new. The more perspectives we engage in through dialogue, the more opportunity for learning we get. As someone who is interested in visual imagery, I am also inspired by the purity of the original materials that I try to let stand out. “Matter” plays an active role in the creation of its own form, it is dominant and the artist is in equal dialogue with it. My favorite work is always in the future, what is just about to be born.
