VERONIKA ŠRAMATYOVÁ

born in 1977, she studied in Prof. Daniel Fischer’s
studio of intermedia at VŠVU in Bratislava.


During her studies Šramatoyová made — among others things — a project together with Aneta Mona Chisa called ARTODAY (2001) in which they used colorful sequins to manipulate well-known works of contemporary art. In her project White Paper (2000, Bratislava) she stuck up, dropped into mailboxes, or handed out to surprised passers-by in the city clean white “flyers.” As part of the project Gallery By Day (2001 Bratislava) she organized a one-day event in a grocery store to sell products that she had stripped of packaging and advertising. The rock-bottom price was what it cost to actually make the raw product. Similarly, the sugary surface of the object Sweet Bed — a bed presented at the exhibition NYBÜVITT (GJK Trnava, 2002) — gave viewers the opportunity to interact live with the object by touching it, licking it or whatever. After each interaction a fresh coat of sugar was spread over the surface, offering a new challenge and open space for interaction with the virginal white powdery surface. A project reminiscent of ad rhetoric, Come and Win (Gallery Medium, Bratislava, 2003), was made as a contest and propagated through the media. It drew a massive number of people to the opening of the exhibition Dream Holiday. After the opening speeches there was a drawing in which one lucky winner won a five-day sightseeing tour of Paris with the artist. The story of the drawing and the whole tour was documented in detail and then presented. The catalogue for the exhibition was made as a folding picture-book that referred to the well-known Parisian souvenirs. Besides these neo-conceptual tendencies, the artist shows a constant interest in the medium of painting, using its hyper-realistic language, through which she articulates other meanings and layers, as can be seen in her latest Project 19. At the exhibition This is my place (Banská Bystrica, 2003), she presented 19 hyper-realistic paintings of the entries or gates to all the houses she has ever lived in. Their small scale, framing and technical presentation create a series of impersonal documentary, non-nostalgic photographs.
Mira Keratová

01.03.2003