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Adela Matasova – Endless convergence

11/4 2019 — 24/5 2019
Opening on Wednesday April 10, 2019 at 5 pm
A guided tour through the exhibition with Curator and Artist will take place at 4 pm.

„At times everyone wanted to touch the existence itself.“ Adéla Matasová

Curator: Michal Koleček

For Adéla Matasová (b. 1940), looking for the rational order has been a long-life joy and lot. The structure of thoughts is the key starting point for all her pieces of art. The gentle conceptualist par excellence has been creating her own system in a patient and stubborn way, the system unique on its own yet modified exactly for the purpose of the content framework of a particular piece. She always aims at creating a work that would “function” as a unique item but also have the potential for further exponential development if included in the broader context of other works. The goal is to create a logically interconnected life-long collection of works, to enhance the final message by making the individual works resonate in a dialogue among each other while applying the strict rule of the key principle of convergence as the basis for all exhibition plans. Since the works by Adéla Matasová are not necessarily conditioned by the exclusivity of an aesthetic environment, they can be also perceived as “mediators” or “interpreters” revealing links within the intentions of complexity and concentricity of our thinking, not obvious at the first glance.

This way of expanding the spiritual dimension of art is not only expressed by the topics chosen, but also by the form of multigenre and interdisciplinary overlaps and in general by the evolutionary shaping of the author’s artistic and, mainly, philosophical opinion, deeply rooted in her search for connections and mutual permeability of science and arts. Adéla Matasová is an exceptional personality, having been forming Czech fine art since 1960s by looking for contemporary vehicles of expression as well as strongly focusing on the latest news in scientific and socio-cultural developments. Her early drawings from the middle of 1960s combined the then principal aesthetics of art informel with the inspiration found in lichen macrostructures, naturally integrating biological research into an authentic artistic gesture. The impressive and monumental reliefs created at the turn of the next decade were successful in employing the expanding possibilities of new technologies: using synthetic resin, Matasová modelled captivating shapes referring to various biomorph elements. In the decades to come, the author continued in her experiments with materials, developing original paper mash as her elemental vehicle of expression allowing her experiments of an almost physical nature and often requiring her own body to participate in the creative process. After 1989, the artist has enriched her field of expressions for other materials, especially iron and steel, as well as for reflective surfaces; apart from the then crucial allusions to industrial connotations, she also started focusing on the possibilities of communication, both human and general. Since the beginning of the new millennium, Matasová has become more and more interested in the latest scientific developments, focusing on general mathematics and experiments related to space research and interconnecting the findings in her object designs by applying sophisticated kinetic installations. Even in these seemingly highly technical projects, though, the intimate and sensitive language of the author always comes through; the final phase of the essential “research” or “testing” part of the project always intertwines with subjectivity, introducing the viewer to the dimensions of a unique ordeal of a human looking for their own irreplaceable identity among the turbulent changes on the maps of social conflicts and scientific experiments.  


Interface, a catalogue edited by Jen Kratochvíl and presenting texts by Martina Pachmanová and Charlotta Kotik will also be presented at the exhibition in the Ústí nad Labem House of Arts. The book provides the context for Adéla Matasová’s life-long work, her teaching at Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague and at the Institute of Art and Design at University of West Bohemia in Pilsen, and the influence she has had on her former students.

Prof. Adéla Matasová became the referee for art studies at the Institute of Art and Design (today’s Faculty of Art and Design) at the Jan Evangelista Purkyně University in the early 1990s, contributing to founding and development of university art studies in Ústí nad Labem in a great way. The Jan Evangelista Purkyně University in Ústí nad Labem awarded her with an honorary degree for her contribution and support in 2013.

Michal and Zdena Koleček

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