Aňa Šmídová
Aňa listens and draws, gathers, writes, rewrites, paints and shines...
The first time I saw Aňa, she was collecting the pieces of a broken bowl. Then, she put them into the earth of her window boxes, among the pieces of other broken bowls and cups, in order, she said, to keep gazing at them.
Studying french philology in Brno, Aňa travels around and maintains a protean art practice.
At first, she investigated colour, mainly in painting, but also in stained glass, by filling paper with colours and colouring light. She used to paint wide abstract compositions, and made lampshades out of folded sheets of paper. Light made the material transparent, which vibrated the shimmering tones.
Lately, Aňa started to explore black and white, and focussed on the graphic and calligraphic possibilities of ink. Before being interested in tales, she used to improvise graphic compositions based on the words she could hear. These compositions are kind of sensitive recordings of her environment.
Her last series is about Irish tales. It demonstrates a strategy of exhaustion, which leads the artist to drain a field of possibilities by repetition and variation. She manages to give her drawings an aura, which can evoke the strength and meaning of a tale.
The dancing ink brings the texts to life...
Wanna see some more ? Keep surfing on rough seas.