Ira Svobodová (1989)
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Ira Svobodová has gained recognition among both gallerists and collectors with her unique approach to painting, as well as for the realisation of the artwork. Her artistic expression is based on the utmost concentration, precision, and reduced but delicate and sensitive colours. In the early days of her work, Svobodová mainly focused on the exploration of modernist architecture and dealing with its specific morphology, which was probably initiated by her internship in Rio de Janeiro, where she was particularly interested in the work of Oscar Niemeyer. Some of the architectural thinking found its way into her painting practice. She works in series, and before each of them prepares models made of plywood, paper, or ribbons in this particular series, then photographs the resulting still lives and treats them like sketches for paintings. The presented artworks come from her current VOID cycle, first exhibited at the Gaspard de la Nuit exhibition (GaP, Znojmo, Czech Republic, 2 November – 8 December 2021), the title of which was inspired by a composition by Maurice Ravel, created based on a compilation of prose poems written by the French poet of Italian origin, Aloysius Bertrand. The artist subsequently drew on his poems, specifically the poem Chèvremorte, which is the cornerstone of the entire series. Aloysius Bertrand’s book was already inspiring for avant-garde painters; among others, an eminent surrealist artist Toyen based her series of symbolist paintings from the end of the 1950s on it, which also highly appealed to Svobodová. She borrowed the symbol of the ribbon from it and turned it into the basic motif of her series. In this cycle, Svobodová elaborates on emptiness from several points of view: as a constitutive element – nothing from which something arises; as a phenomenon shrouded in symbolism and mystique, accompanying a person throughout their life in the form of vanitas reminiscent of human mortality; and as a physical phenomenon – a vacuum. Svobodová is one of the most prominent figures of contemporary art and has had numerous solo and collective exhibitions worldwide. Her works are part of private collections in the Czech Republic, USA, Norway, Canada, Slovakia, Austria, Germany, Slovenia, and Poland.
Selected exhibitions:
VOID, Sokolská 26 Gallery, Ostrava, CZE, 2023
Paperwork, The Chemistry Gallery, Prague, CZE, 2021
Framing Space, River Gallery, Los Angeles, USA, 2019
Prague Berlin Barter, Urban Spree, Berlin, DEU, 2019
Inner Matter, CES Gallery, Los Angeles, USA, 2016
Papercut & Noir, Volta NY, New York, USA, 2015
Ira Svobodová has gained recognition among both gallerists and collectors with her unique approach to painting, as well as for the realisation of the artwork. Her artistic expression is based on the utmost concentration, precision, and reduced but delicate and sensitive colours. In the early days of her work, Svobodová mainly focused on the exploration of modernist architecture and dealing with its specific morphology, which was probably initiated by her internship in Rio de Janeiro, where she was particularly interested in the work of Oscar Niemeyer. Some of the architectural thinking found its way into her painting practice. She works in series, and before each of them prepares models made of plywood, paper, or ribbons in this particular series, then photographs the resulting still lives and treats them like sketches for paintings. The presented artworks come from her current VOID cycle, first exhibited at the Gaspard de la Nuit exhibition (GaP, Znojmo, Czech Republic, 2 November – 8 December 2021), the title of which was inspired by a composition by Maurice Ravel, created based on a compilation of prose poems written by the French poet of Italian origin, Aloysius Bertrand. The artist subsequently drew on his poems, specifically the poem Chèvremorte, which is the cornerstone of the entire series. Aloysius Bertrand’s book was already inspiring for avant-garde painters; among others, an eminent surrealist artist Toyen based her series of symbolist paintings from the end of the 1950s on it, which also highly appealed to Svobodová. She borrowed the symbol of the ribbon from it and turned it into the basic motif of her series. In this cycle, Svobodová elaborates on emptiness from several points of view: as a constitutive element – nothing from which something arises; as a phenomenon shrouded in symbolism and mystique, accompanying a person throughout their life in the form of vanitas reminiscent of human mortality; and as a physical phenomenon – a vacuum. Svobodová is one of the most prominent figures of contemporary art and has had numerous solo and collective exhibitions worldwide. Her works are part of private collections in the Czech Republic, USA, Norway, Canada, Slovakia, Austria, Germany, Slovenia, and Poland.
Selected exhibitions:
VOID, Sokolská 26 Gallery, Ostrava, CZE, 2023
Paperwork, The Chemistry Gallery, Prague, CZE, 2021
Framing Space, River Gallery, Los Angeles, USA, 2019
Prague Berlin Barter, Urban Spree, Berlin, DEU, 2019
Inner Matter, CES Gallery, Los Angeles, USA, 2016
Papercut & Noir, Volta NY, New York, USA, 2015
VOID IN GRAY
2022
acrylic on canvas
100 × 80 cm
ARTIST’S RECORD SALE
sold at 89th KODL Gallery Auction
VOID 34
2023
acrylic on canvas
60 × 40 × 4 cm
sold
VOID 20
2022
acrylic on canvas
120 × 160 × 4 cm
sold
VOID 21
2022
acrylic on canvas
120 × 160 × 4 cm
sold
VOID IN BRIGHT ULTRAMARINE
2023
acrylic on canvas
80 × 60 × 4 cm
sold
VOID IN PALE PINK
2023
acrylic on canvas
80 × 60 × 4 cm
sold
VOID 16
2022
acrylic on canvas
140 × 180 × 4 cm
sold
VOID 27
2023
acrylic on canvas
80 × 80 × 4 cm
sold
VOID 32
2023
acrylic on canvas
60 × 40 × 4 cm
sold
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