Sculpture Workshop : Today I Cast My Sculptures In Plaster And After Painting Them With Shellac, I Covered

Installation art and Roman Ondak

Roman Ondak, ‘Event Horizon’ - installation art, 2016-17

Roman Ondak (1966) is a contemporary Slovak artist who grew up under the communist regime (1948-89), this experience is reflected in much of his work. He explores alternate political possibilities and questions the failure of the communist regime in his pieces. His exhibition, ‘The Source Of Art Is In The Life Of A People’ was exhibited in the South London Gallery in 2016-17. The centrepiece of the exhibition was ‘Event Horizon’ which uses an 100 year old oak tree sourced from  the area around Žilina in Slovakia where Roman Ondak is originally from. The oak tree is split into 100 separate discs and on each of these discs is a certain event in history which Ondak has chosen. The exhibition lasted for 100 days and on each day, the consecutive disc was put up onto the wall until all of them were up on display.

The first disc of the oak tree which was put on the wall represented the year 1917 and Ondak has chosen the Russian revolution to be the main event in that year. The events are printed onto the wood in which its natural qualities like cracks and the grain are still visible. This gives a more organic and textured feel to the installation.

The title of the Installation is particularly interesting, it is called ‘Event Horizon’ which is the boundary around a black hole from which no radiation or matter can escape. It is called the event horizon because it is at that point of a black hole where space and time begin to change and distort. This scientific title may reflect the efforts of the Communist Regime to encourage atheism across its states and promote science and technology. Ondak has used this idea of a liminal zone around a black hole to convey a certain meaning in his work. History is something that we can not change, and in Ondak’s installation he is simply stating facts about the past. The past can not be changed however calling the piece ‘Event Horizon’ ,referring to the state in which history can be altered, may reveal Ondak’s own desire to change it. This juxtaposes and contrasts with the heavy, old and historic oak tree which is not malleable and can not be distorted. Perhaps highlighting some oppression he may have experienced when growing up under the regime. 

The use of the oak tree which is specifically from his region in Slovakia symbolises Ondak’s roots and his own history and how it is a part of him. The oak tree symbolises knowledge and resistance which reflects one of the overarching meanings of the installation, passing knowledge down to other generations so that they too may learn about the past which is a fact and can not be changed.

Sources:

http://thisistomorrow.info/articles/roman-ondak-the-source-of-art-is-in-the-life-of-a-people

https://www.estherschipper.com/artists/61-roman-ondak/works/14255/#:~:text=Event%20Horizon%20is%20a%20sculptural,exhibited%20aligned%20in%20a%20row.

https://www.dictionary.com/browse/event-horizon

https://www.southlondongallery.org/exhibitions/roman-ondak-the-source-of-art-is-in-the-life-of-a-people/

The process of making my book. After illustrating all of my pictures and typewriting the story, I stitched all the components onto card with some colourful thread and I then stuck these into a book which I bound. The book is called ‘Reconnection’. A short illustrated story I wrote, about a city where the sun has stopped shining, a girl goes on an adventure into the forest to bring the sun back. It is about reconnecting to cultural heritage in the modern world :)

My painting for the current project ‘Then and Now’. Oil on canvas (85cm x 140cm)

I have been exploring Slovak folklore and folk art and the political topic of Brexit which is a very current affair. Throughout the project I have been merging these two different ideas together as I am aim to tell the ‘folk story’ of how Brexit touches people’s lives in different ways. The girl (Britain) is wearing a blouse with an eastern European embroidery design to convey the message of, diversity, tolerance and multiculturalism, all apparent in one country, but she is brushing the EU stars out of her hair reflecting, the weakening of some of these important principles.

My technique was inspired by Caravaggio’s chiaroscuro and a painting by the Slovakian artist Julius Bukovinsky.

Some close ups from my end of year show. Suspended heart, lino prints and embroidery

Observational drawings of a pig’s heart.......

Recent lino cuts for my project re-connection. Looking at folk stories in modern day contexts. The top right lino cut was inspired by the Russian folk story, Vasilisa The Beautiful and the second lino cut (top left) was inspired by the Mexican folklore character La Catrina who is a symbol of The Day of The Dead.

Painting workshop. Here are some photos of how I created the canvas and started painting. It has been amazing  and very useful learning how to create my own canvas and I am loving painting on it.

Inspired by one of my favourite illustrators Katarina Kerekesova for the graphics workshop :)

My own photos for my Pathway project which were inspired by Charity Henderson’s work. She paints portraits in neutral tones and blurres them out slightly at the edges creating a smudged effect. Some parts of her portraits are in focus and some are completely blurred. I experimented with putting plastic bags in front of the face to made some white highlights and putting tracing paper on the face to smudge features

Some snippets from my animation about Brexit which I have linked to Slovakian folklore for my current project ‘Then and Now’