Youkali , 2018

Painting: prize stickers and auxillary materials on plywood
152,5 x 152,5 cm

Object: plexiglass, glue, paper, letter labels
50 x 25 cm

“Youkali” (2018) consists of two parts – a painting from prize stickers and a transparent three-dimensional object (in a shape of a triangular bipyramid).

The central theme of this work is desire. Human desires can be compared to a vessel with a hole – whatever it is being filled with, a free space for the next wish would appear soon again. The material of the painting – the prize stickers (issued by supermarkets, fuel stations and other stores as tokens) – remind that our wishes are most often being generated by external impulses: desires of other people and cultural conditions (Lacanian way). The motive – a departing cruise ship – embodies an idea of a fleeting dream, which, however, can never fleet (the painting is static). The idea of an illusion is emphasized by the false-front nature of the seemingly represented object, as well as the inclusion of several elements playfully shifting the scale of the “ship”.

The transparent object, a sealed capsule (letter in a bottle, if you wish), is filled with words – concepts and references that were important in the generation process of the painting. Thus it is the “mental double” of the image, stating a question, which of the two is the real artwork – the picture or the ideas standing behind it?

Various elements and views of the work (the artist´s MA graduation project):

The painting

The object, on the background of the painting

Close-up

Close-up