Antenna Space is pleased to announce Stanislava Kovalcikova will hold her first solo exhibition Grotto at Museum of Contemporary Art – Belvedere 21, Vienna, Austria. The exhibition is curated by Stella Rollig and will be available from September 16, 2022 to February 5, 2023.

Stanislava Kovalcikova explores the theme of the grotesque in this presentation. A key stylistic element in the artist’s paintings is the deliberate alienation of the familiar. She creates fantastical, whimsical settings populated by fable-like human and animal characters that operate outside of social norms. Kovalcikova’s works challenge notions of gender, skin color, identity, social convention, and power relations.

In her most recent works, three new large-format paintings, created especially for this exhibition, continue with the grotesque as an ornamental design element in pastoral scenes of Dinoysian debauchery. Through her tragicomic depictions, the artist refers to the hedonistic sexuality of her generation.

The title “Grotto” takes its name from a man-made grotto at Hugh Hefner’s Los Angeles mansion, where the former Playboy editor used to entertain; after his death, reports of sexual abuse and drug excesses there became public.

Courtesy of the artist, Belvedere 21, Vienna and Peres Projects, Berlin, Seoul, Milan
Photo: Johannes Stoll / Belvedere, Vienna