Alice Nikitinová

• I did my high school studies in Ukraine and it was very conservative school,00:00:04.325
• 00:00:04.325
• and when I got to Prague, everything that took place00:00:15.653
• 00:00:15.653
• at the Academy (of Fine Arts) seemed progressive and radical to me.00:00:20.187
• 00:00:20.187
• I spent those six years in prof. Sopko's painting studio00:00:28.058
• 00:00:28.058
• and most of the time00:00:32.356
• 00:00:32.356
• was taken up by blundering and searching.00:00:36.958
• 00:00:36.958
• The year after school was a strange period of time,00:00:43.202
• 00:00:43.202
• when one reevaluates everything again.00:00:49.103
• 00:00:49.103
• Back then, I was doing kind of an anti-painting,00:00:53.579
• 00:00:53.579
• I call it trash period,00:00:57.920
• 00:00:57.920
• they were immensely half-witted paintings.00:01:02.281
• 00:01:02.281
• It was a protest of sorts against myself00:01:06.612
• 00:01:06.612
• and against the seriousness of one's previous approach.00:01:10.852
• 00:01:10.852
• In a way it was very liberating,00:01:19.488
• 00:01:19.488
• suddenly the fear whether it is good enough disappeared00:01:23.836
• 00:01:23.836
• and there started to function00:01:30.867
• 00:01:30.867
• certain playfulness and irony.00:01:35.073
• 00:01:35.073
• For me this is a significant series in some way,00:01:44.340
• 00:01:44.340
• it draws from pure observation and my keen interest in Malevich00:01:52.831
• 00:01:52.831
• at that time00:01:57.209
• 00:01:57.209
• and the paintings are quotations of sorts.00:02:00.729
• 00:02:00.729
• It's a similar format and composition,00:02:04.903
• 00:02:04.903
• but the other attributes are actually contemporary.00:02:11.170
• 00:02:11.170
• I wouldn't want the paintings00:02:28.851
• 00:02:28.851
• to be seen as some sweeping social commentary.00:02:33.165
• 00:02:33.165
• Those topics weren't in any way actual back then.00:02:39.823
• 00:02:39.823
• It was rather a marginalized topic.00:02:48.383
• 00:02:48.383
• But I believe there should be present some attitude,00:02:54.911
• 00:02:54.911
• or at least I would like it to be so,00:02:59.240
• 00:02:59.240
• that it could be felt, and not just perceived00:03:03.728
• 00:03:03.728
• as some simple set of meanings or as too straightforward.00:03:08.169
• 00:03:08.169
• I have actually slowly abandoned the figural approach;00:03:20.581
• 00:03:20.581
• there remained only objects from similar environments,00:03:24.838
• 00:03:24.838
• like, utilitarian, mundane things.00:03:29.233
• 00:03:29.233
• And at the same time it is a visual kind of interest,00:03:36.581
• 00:03:36.581
• it speaks to me every time I see it,00:03:40.824
• 00:03:40.824
• but it's also an endeavor to get rid of the elitist pose00:03:45.113
• 00:03:45.113
• of the art in general, a step towards margins,00:03:49.423
• 00:03:49.423
• closer to an ordinary life.00:03:53.861
• 00:03:53.861
• This comes from the Florenc central bus station,00:04:04.948
• 00:04:04.948
• where there are these two guys who are usually standing there00:04:09.306
• 00:04:09.306
• the whole day and observing and I liked the moment00:04:13.677
• 00:04:13.677
• where we don't see the bus station,00:04:18.019
• 00:04:18.019
• but the information is provided by the writing on vests,00:04:22.234
• 00:04:22.234
• so notwithstanding the abstract quality it's somehow very descriptive.00:04:26.619
• 00:04:26.619
• Compressor.00:04:31.956
• 00:04:31.956
• I like it when the image poses as an abstraction,00:04:39.103
• 00:04:39.103
• but if there is some real object...00:04:43.587
• 00:04:43.587
• the abstraction is something very serious;00:04:50.766
• 00:04:50.766
• some of it has even sacral effect00:04:58.240
• 00:04:58.240
• and I like it when this seriousness00:05:02.608
• 00:05:02.608
• can be toppled or disturbed somehow by a mundane object.00:05:06.949
• 00:05:06.949
• In 2008-2009 I did an internship in Amsterdam00:05:21.487
• 00:05:21.487
• and my first impression was00:05:26.980
• 00:05:26.980
• that it's such a perfect clean postcard city,00:05:31.363
• 00:05:31.363
• and I didn't feel any attachment to it.00:05:38.224
• 00:05:38.224
• It was hard for me to find any inspiration there00:05:42.466
• 00:05:42.466
• and this is, again, returning to mundane,00:05:49.543
• 00:05:49.543
• utilitarian objects, and at the same time00:05:53.673
• 00:05:53.673
• I liked the fact that dumpsters in Amsterdam have an address number.00:05:57.953
• 00:05:57.953
• Therefore the play in question00:06:03.073
• 00:06:03.073
• is similar to the Florenc dispatching guys, that even though it is very abstract00:06:07.412
• 00:06:07.412
• it still has these exact numbers00:06:11.877
• 00:06:11.877
• pointing to a specific place.00:06:16.073
• 00:06:16.073
• This is a car quite peculiar to Netherlands, it is called Canta00:06:44.153
• 00:06:44.153
• and it's a funny small electric car,00:06:50.461
• 00:06:50.461
• used mostly by handicapped people and seniors.00:06:58.194
• 00:06:58.194
• It's very typical for Netherlands,00:07:05.331
• 00:07:05.331
• so I think it's a bit harder here00:07:09.660
• 00:07:09.660
• for there isn't that immediate moment of recognition,00:07:16.241
• 00:07:16.241
• like with the multicar. What I liked about it00:07:20.744
• 00:07:20.744
• was that the car already looked like taken from some comic book,00:07:24.940
• 00:07:24.940
• so I didn't have to simplify it too much00:07:30.799
• 00:07:30.799
• - it does look approximately like this. I approached the car in the street00:07:35.022
• 00:07:35.022
• and I compared it roughly with my own height.00:07:39.337
• 00:07:39.337
• I chose a square format of that exact size00:07:43.790
• 00:07:43.790
• and squeezed the car inside in its life size.00:07:49.477
• 00:07:49.477
• Of course the perspective is somewhat impossible;00:07:53.823
• 00:07:53.823
• one would have to lie down or so to see all the wheels lined up like that.00:07:58.375
• 00:07:58.375
• But that's more like a symbolic handling of space.00:08:07.208
• 00:08:07.208
• While staying in Netherlands I started once again to deal00:08:18.349
• 00:08:18.349
• with formal aspects, like proportions, balance,00:08:22.840
• 00:08:22.840
• various colour relations,00:08:27.202
• 00:08:27.202
• that is some fundamental issues of painting,00:08:33.107
• 00:08:33.107
• rediscovering for my own needs, though this time00:08:37.417
• 00:08:37.417
• from a different point of view.00:08:41.604
• 00:08:41.604
• I enjoyed very much things that are related somehow to painting,00:08:50.490
• 00:08:50.490
• or that bear some announcement,00:08:54.749
• 00:08:54.749
• though in the painting we end up seeing only the shape.00:09:02.671
• 00:09:02.671
• The announcement is only in the title.00:09:06.860
• 00:09:06.860
• This is are the backrests; it is actually right here,00:09:17.217
• 00:09:17.217
• the source of inspiration.00:09:21.559
• 00:09:21.559
• Funny thing is that it was really everything about it00:09:29.808
• 00:09:29.808
• that took my interest, including screws,00:09:34.065
• 00:09:34.065
• including slots of their heads each of them oriented differently,00:09:38.556
• 00:09:38.556
• and when I look at it, the eye tends to wander,00:09:42.908
• 00:09:42.908
• that it's almost a phased movement.00:09:47.066
• 00:09:47.066
• Then there are other versions,00:09:51.335
• 00:09:51.335
• this here is a backrest without screws,00:09:55.494
• 00:09:55.494
• and here there are only the screws00:09:59.738
• 00:09:59.738
• with the slots in the middle.00:10:04.028
• 00:10:04.028
• Then I have realized that having this tendency to paint single object00:10:12.108
• 00:10:12.108
• in the center of canvas00:10:16.559
• 00:10:16.559
• is related as well with desire00:10:20.745
• 00:10:20.745
• to make things in the simplest, most straightforward way.00:10:25.002
• 00:10:25.002
• I wanted to try and make the objects,00:10:29.215
• 00:10:29.215
• that is, not to paint them, but to fabricate them.00:10:33.541
• 00:10:33.541
• This is a box with a shape corresponding with...00:10:43.671
• 00:10:43.671
• it reminds me of a Soviet letter box,00:10:47.910
• 00:10:47.910
• but in this case a letter can be inserted but not taken out.00:10:52.196
• 00:10:52.196
• It's an absurd, non-functional object.00:10:57.882
• 00:10:57.882
• This is a series of first pages of books,00:11:16.433
• 00:11:16.433
• mostly monographs of some artists,00:11:22.696
• 00:11:22.696
• and it stems as well from an observation.00:11:28.383
• 00:11:28.383
• But I also liked the moment00:11:32.704
• 00:11:32.704
• of uncoupling the meaning of the thing and its cover,00:11:37.383
• 00:11:37.383
• thus once again, one doesn't know what book is that,00:11:43.925
• 00:11:43.925
• it's only the painting's title that informs us about the book's name.00:11:48.267
• 00:11:48.267
• It's just a play of forms that is being created there,00:11:52.228
• 00:11:52.228
• with shapes appearing there and communicating among themselves.00:11:56.691
• 00:11:56.691
• It also hints at painter's perception of world00:12:02.900
• 00:12:02.900
• - I catch myself sometimes perceiving things around me00:12:07.244
• 00:12:07.244
• regardless of their meaning, I focus more on their shape00:12:14.893
• 00:12:14.893
• than on their content.00:12:19.050
• 00:12:19.050
• This is a torn down poster,00:12:23.299
• 00:12:23.299
• an attempt at representing nothing, absence or gap.00:12:27.520
• 00:12:27.520
• And I liked as well the play of geometry:00:12:33.695
• 00:12:33.695
• the corners keep disconcerting you,00:12:37.988
• 00:12:37.988
• the painting looks like it's hanging wryly00:12:42.021
• 00:12:42.021
• since the eye tends to "tidy" the corners up.00:12:46.408
• 00:12:46.408
• These photographs serve as a kind of notes.00:13:13.688
• 00:13:13.688
• It's done mostly by a small camera;00:13:22.802
• 00:13:22.802
• it has no quality, no usable resolution.00:13:27.057
• 00:13:27.057
• What counts is rather a fast reaction00:13:31.482
• 00:13:31.482
• when one sees something he likes.00:13:35.921
• 00:13:35.921
• And it's mostly objects having something absurd about them,00:13:40.265
• 00:13:40.265
• sometimes they even remind pieces of art,00:13:44.691
• 00:13:44.691
• however they are meant to be functional in some way.00:13:48.939
• 00:13:48.939
• It's more like collecting than a serious work.00:13:57.441
• 00:13:57.441
• Only rarely does it happen00:14:09.911
• 00:14:09.911
• that I have an exact idea of what I would like to do.00:14:14.278
• 00:14:14.278
• The whole process is actually about searching00:14:18.732
• 00:14:18.732
• of what I can do,00:14:23.206
• 00:14:23.206
• and only later one does find what it was all about.00:14:27.190

Zde se můžete vyjádřit. (*nutné)