Anna Krištofíková
Anna Krištofíková on Armor, Atmospheres, and Painting the Self
Description:
In this 45th episode of the HIDDEN Podcast, we sit down with painter Anna Krištofíková and curator Kamil Princ, recorded inside Anna’s solo exhibition Wild at Steel Heart at HIDDEN Bořivojova. The conversation opens a raw yet poetic space where symbolism, protection, and vulnerability collide, both on canvas and in the artist’s life.
Anna reflects on painting her own body, her time in New York, and how environmental and emotional atmospheres shape her work. Together with Kamil, they dive deep into metaphors of armor, keys, and emotional exposure, while also unpacking humor, self-irony, and artistic fatigue. What emerges is a vivid portrait of an artist navigating the blur between inner mythologies and outer realities.
Topics Discussed:
The symbolism of steel, keys, and locks in Wild at Steel Heart
Painting as emotional self-defense and exposure
Why she often uses her own body in her compositions
Artistic transformation after living in New York
Upcoming exhibitions in Pardubice and London plans
Thoughts on authorship and studio assistants, including her time with painter Paulina Olowska
The tension between individual authorship and collaborative production
Key Quotes from Anna Krištofíková:
“I don’t want to explain everything. Once I explain it all, it loses the mystery—and that’s what I paint for.”
“Sometimes the image is stronger when I myself don’t fully understand it yet.”
“I often use my own body not because I think it’s special, but because it’s always there. It’s available and brutally honest.”
“New York gave me the courage to look outside myself, not just into my inner chaos. I needed that.”
“There are keys and locks everywhere, but not every lock needs to be opened. Some things protect you by staying closed.”
“I’ve done 36 to 40-hour fasts. I get this clear feeling—I feel like dancing. My mind works differently when I’m not full.”
Guest Information:
Anna Krištofíková is a Prague-based painter whose work bridges symbolic figuration and emotional introspection. Her paintings often depict surreal, dreamlike bodies, sometimes armored in steel, sometimes pierced or scarred. Navigating private worlds of memory, pain, and transformation.
Raised near a forest, Anna retains a deep connection to nature and mysticism, which she merges with urban experiences and emotional states. A pivotal residency in New York shifted her gaze outward, introducing new textures, neon atmospheres, and more humor into her work. Her latest series explores self-protection, the fluidity of identity, and what it means to unlock parts of ourselves.
Anna’s technique: thin oil layers, scratched surfaces, precise bodily gestures mirrors her introspective process. Her work resists simplification: it’s intimate, self-aware, and layered with ambivalence.
This conversation is in Czech.
