The Geometry of Petra Novakova Ondreickova – A few disordered remarks on the artist’s work
By Maria Hlavajova
Petra Ondreickova’s work comes out of the space of postminimalist articulation: work with the vocabulary of basic geometric forms, a fragmentary reduction ofshapes and a concentration on the illusory spatial depth created on a surface are the starting points for the artistic vision.
The relationship of form to space (realised in drawings, collages or structures), though shown in the language of geometric abstraction, nevertheless allude to a certain reality: to a shape of a labyrinth (Labyrinths,1993; When I find you, I’ll tell you something important, 1995), to architecture (Small souls likeforever unmade beds, 1993) to the technical ( Machine,1995; On love, 1996), or to material studies (Basaltrock, 1995).
Space – the visualisation of its forms and potential limits, its definition in an artistic language of simple, geometric elements determined by mathematical laws and technical drawings – is the substantial premise in Ondreickova’s work.
Her object structures (Labyrinths I-III, 1993; Three dimensional sentence, 1994) make use of the multiple possibilities of the border between the“inner” and the “outer”, and apart from their visual impact, these works reveal a haptic potential and refined dynamization of shapes and proportional relationships which heighten the illusion of spatial depth, creating a unique fusion of tensions arising from inner relationships.
In her use of the plane surface,within the permitted bounds of a two-dimensional system of relationships, Ondreickova puts into play a sophisticated game of perceptual possibilities of the observer. Her basic devices- vertical and horizontal division, diagonal crossings, submission to principles of mathematics and technical construction-phrase her surface into dynamic structures, which then allow for a precise, logical arrangement with an exactly determined order,which then lets her admit to the possibility of an illusory third dimension.
Her surfaces show the influence of the formal elements of architecture: they are architectural visions of landscape and structures. The surface simulates a spatial representation, and with the artist’s entry it absorbs the quality and experience of a three dimensional space. The real and imaginary worlds of her collages draw us into our own interiors, for in watching these visually precise realisations, we are deliberately transferred into complicated maze, an imaginary urban tangle, a fictional architectural complex.
The mathematical logic of Ondreickova’s geometric and constructional works is sometimes deliberately broken (Two mistakes, 1993). The deliberate mistake or slight discrepancy in a precise order casts doubt on the totality of the rational. A slight deviation in trajectory changes the status of illogical construct, adds dynamism to the picture, and, finally, brings into the apparatus of formal logic a certain naturalness and, paradoxically, harmony as well. The postulate of subtle disarculation in the language of geometricstudies, combined with the element of perceptual ambiguity,harmonises the whole work, giving it a sense of being a suggestive and mysterious game.
The collage Two mistakes (1993) opens up a space for new inspirations. The loose paraphrase of the claim that the murderer will always be revealed if he makes at least two mistakes, takes us into the area ofliterature, particularly detective stories. The bridging of the above mentioned depiction of the spatial modalities of a crime story (architecture, urbanism, studies of fictional machines,etc.) with, not least of all, the grammatical construction of a sentence (the titles of the works are quotes from literature,most of which have multiple allusions to both detective fiction and architecture/urbanism; Yet ‘In the city there lived ten million people, and any one of them could have been a murder or a victim’ (1996) is clear: they are linked by elements of rationality, logical relationships, calculation and previously agreed-upon rules.
This platform of new territories of inspiration (literature) allows for the overlapping of technical and biomorphic creation. In Ondreickova’s latest works we come upon the human figure more often ( ‘A well-earnedrest’, 1994; ‘Mother and Child’, 1995) or imaginary plants (‘Exotic Plants’, 1995). Their meeting with the strict constructional asceticism of the space’s formal figures in which they are “placed” once again slightly breaks the doctrine of precision,creating a point of catharsis in the geometrically inexorable mathematical demonstrations.
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
Petra Novakova Ondreickova
Born 1968 in Bratislava, Slovakia.Graduated from VSUP in Prague and studied at Nottingham Trent University in Great Britain.
