Jarmila Mitríková, Dávid Demjanovič

Jarmila Mitríková (b. 1986, Trebišov, Slovakia), Dávid Demjanovič (b. 1985, Bardejov, Slovakia) Living and working in Bratislava, Prague and regions

This author duo has been active on the Slovak artistic scene for only a short time, but they have already attracted attention with their specific manuscript characterised above all by their technique of burning into wood - pyrography. The technique, which also appears frequently in expressions of folk art, often forms the thematic basis for many of their works. This is reflected especially in references to folk literature, folklore, religion and national identity.

Mitríková and Demjanovič transcend a direct referential framework and create their own interpretation with a strong mystifying colouring of national history and the nature of the Slovak nation - and without avoiding the often sensitive themes of the national complex. The authors construct bizzare compositions in which, paradoxically, romantic scenes of the Slovak landscape and singing boys and girls dressed in folk costumes - in their elaboration referencing almost ethnografic precision - clash with almost Goya-like naturalistic scenes of burning ghosts and witches, chanting pioneers, German submarines and space satellites.

Whereas their older works are simpler in expression and composition, using a collage technique to build a painting surface of rather monochromatic character, their newer works are dominated by more complexly elaborated compositions with multiple content planes and more precise execution of figures and architecture. The works can also be understood as the authors‘ interpretation of our history, our present, and even our future, absurdly linking often unimaginable periods from the past, which are also utopian responses to what would have been if…

http://jarmilamitrikova.com/