Lucia Papčo
Originally from Bratislava, Slovakia, Lucia Papčo adopts a transdisciplinary approach; utilizing photography and multimedia, her work provokes an alternative expression of reality and perception. The articulation of both the fundamental concepts of space and the contextual ideologies of landscape provide the viewer with an interactive and transformative platform.
Papčo received a Magister of Art from the Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna, Austria in 2012, and previously studied at the Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Bratislava, Slovakia, and at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague, Czech Republic. She also received the prominent Essl Art Award CEE in 2009. In 2013 she participated in the Residency Unlimited program in New York City.
Series
John In Love
Primarily concerned with the portrayal of non-manipulated reality, this series portrays black color in an endless expression of shades, thus providing a connection between realities and the exclusivity of a moment.
Moment I/The Forest
Concepts of reality are distanced, while the story line and space are erased. This consequently creates a gap between what has happened and what the viewer knows.
That Country
This series looks at the abstract potentialities of expression through the image of reality. Natural light and spatial functions provide layers of meaning – beyond the real landscape, beyond what can be seen on the print, a new space is constituted.
Arcadia
“Landscape bears our history and shapes our future. Together with the ‘social landscape’ of our potential for some kind of action, it defines our perception of the here and now, the reality surrounding us. Landscape, as a process-generated artwork, is shaped by human activity and the responsive action of nature. As Kant said, ‘The irresistibility of the power of nature forces us to recognize our physical impotence as natural beings, but at the same time discloses our capacity to judge ourselves independently of nature and to be superior to nature . . .’
In my ongoing research on the photographic image, I work on the border between photography and other graphic techniques. I use only the natural possibilities of the landscape and the classical black-and-white photographic process. Space, being obscured by under-exposition, or otherwise changed (exhibiting negatives, over painting), loses reference to its origin. A new space forms behind the actual landscape and the visible surface of the print. This thin line between losing reference and at the same time keeping it somehow compressed in the photographic paper – obscured but still present, depending on the moment when light conditions are exactly right – creates a shift in understanding of the image, of the place. The photographic image of the landscape becomes an entity, changing its referential layer to abstraction, in both content and form. At the same time, it invites the viewer to step into the landscape – to enter the deep forest where myths come to life, socio-political presence recedes into the background, and the character of self comes into question.”
2013 –
He who passes through that country, OPEN Gallery, Bratislava, Slovakia
John In Love Show, Photoport Gallery, Bratislava, Slovakia
2012 – That Country, Projectroom, Cyprian Majernik Gallery, Bratislava, Slovakia
John in Love, Photoport Gallery, Bratislava, Slovakia
2011 – Bright Side of The Horse, 35m2 Gallery, Prague, Czech Republic
2013
The World And It’s Things In The Middle Of Their Intimacy, Fridman Gallery, New York City, USA
Like it!, Essl Museum – Contemporary Art, Klosterneuburg, Austria.
Hans Knoll – selected works from “Knoll talks” in Reality Group Exhibition- Raum Residenz, Atelier Suterena, Vienna, Austria
Liminal Inversions, Residency Unlimited, New York, USA
Layers, Medium Gallery, Bratislava, Slovakia
2012
Weird Scenes Inside The Gold Mine, Parker’s Box Gallery, Brooklyn, New York
2011
A youthful Medium, House of Art, Bratislava, Slovakia
The Picture we live in, Museum of the City of Usti nad Labem, Czech Republic
All my lovin, Sirius Arts Center, Cork, Ireland
2010
Statement, Paris Photo, Carrousel du Louvre, Paris, France
Yeasty Medium, Slovak Photography 1990-2010, House of Art, Bratislava, Slovakia
Group Exhibition- Second Halftime, Maribor Art Gallery, Maribor, Slovenia
All My Lovin, Lodź Art Center, Lodź, Poland
Familial Feeling, House of Photography, Liptovsky Mikulas, Slovakia
Essl Award Special Invitation, Ringturm, Vienna, Austria
Photoport vol. 1, University of Jyväskylä, Finland
Photoport vol. 1, Cultural Center in Espoo, Finland