AVU diploma 2023
HIDDEN Diploma Selection 2023: Our Best Picks from the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague
Marcela Putnová
Marcela Putnová's diploma is titled Mirroring. It's both raw and expansive, brimming with symbolisms. The focal point of her work lies in our profound impact on the world around us. Either external one, precisely our effect on the environment. And also internal one, as we influence each other in relationships and the surroundings we create that unconsciously shapes every one of us. Putnova's work reminds us of an undeniable truth: we are inherently shaped by the environments we inhabit, a concept that lingers long after the viewer leaves the Academy.
Matěj Pokorný
Matěj Pokorný is a medium in and of itself. He has experience with drawing, painting, movies, music and this year after 5 years he returned to sculpture. We are confronted with a depiction of a female and a male. In a form that he organically was changing during its creation. By close examination we see almost paint-like strokes that remind us of all his paintings. I think Matěj Pokorný work deserves a big solo show that combines all mediums he works with under one roof. I think I already have an idea.
Marie Kuklíková
Marie Kuklíková's sculpture is composed of hand-knitted hay. The process began from the bottom and moved upwards. Two rows of knitted hay were shaped into legs and connected at the groin area. It then continued as a single line reaching the top of the head. Due to the time-consuming nature of knitting, she enlisted the help of friends by hosting knitting parties. The idea that had been lingering in my mind for a long time is called 'Doživotní velikost' in Czech. In this concept, the sculpture is so large that it collapses under its own weight. This sculpture has finally brought this concept to life. The complete destruction of the sculpture is prevented by its inner frame, allowing us to observe it as if it were frozen midway through its collapse.
Fejear Adam Alva
Fejear Adam Alva installation is based on his own experience being in Iceland. He wants to share what he felt during his stay through the physicality of sculpture. In the immediate proximity in Iceland, absorbed and recorded are specific impressions from specific locations. The overall sensation of Iceland is subsequently translated through a physical sense of it. There is no need to perceive the figure in the installation and categorize it as just another naked conventional figurative sculpture but rather as a symbol of pausing and the ability to perceive things around.