Denisa Lehocká

Denisa Lehocká 2012

Having been included in SNG’s exhibition plan, the monographic exhibition of Denisa Lehocká establishes a precedent, since monographic expositions of artists from the younger and middle generations are quite rare for SNG. Such approach does not demonstrate SNG’s cautiousness; rather, it arises from the institution’s status of a national gallery that neither wants to, nor should, present itself as a Kunsthalle. Instead, its role is to act as a museum establishing collections of visual arts, respecting verification and preservation of artistic values. However, at the beginning of 2010, SNG’s curators agreed that once in two years, it was necessary to incorporate in the exhibition plan also a monographic exhibition of an artist, whose career has not yet been finalised, one that is asking questions about the classic, modern and contemporary art, with the potential to become a partner for dialogue with these arts. The decision was also supported by the success of the Loop project by Roman Ondák, which was received positively at the 2009 Venice Biennale, where it was presented in cooperation with SNG. In a similar fashion to Ondák’s exhibition, the exposition of Denisa Lehocká is also not a retrospective. This time again, SNG initiated the birth of a new work that is being created with its contribution.

Concept of the exhibition

The installation created by Denisa Lehocká for this exhibition in SNG takes up one entire floor of the Esterházyho Palace. The project itself is composed in a fashion similar to most of the author’s other works – it is a spatial collage combined with re-evaluation of space / architecture. Being a complex installation, it comprises of Lehocká’s drawings, paintings, objects, but also drawing tools, gallery installation components, as well as selected collection items from the Slovak National Gallery: a table designed by architect Dušan Samuel Jurkovič, or seats from architect Ján Nemec, who is the author of SNG’s interior design together with architect Vladimír Dedeček. All of these and other items together with randomly found natural objects constitute one whole. 
Denisa Lehocká’s work is characteristic for its free creation in space, however, it is neither a paraphrase nor a metaphor of the surrounding world’s relations, nor is it an autobiographic confession; rather, it stands as their visual transformation. Even though all of her works have a strong autobiographic element, they tend towards a more