Barbora Klímová

Barbora Klímová (b. 1977) studies at the intermedia department at the Visual Arts Faculty of VUT in Brno under professor Peter Rónai.

Barbora Klímová stands out from her peers, who mainly give in to pop culture influences, for her simple, almost minimalist concept, which uses the simplest kinds of exercises in painting technique. If one paints using light, shapes, and patterns, the traditional rectangular space on the canvas will without a doubt evoke the notion of a painting. The myth of the picture on the wall is a seductive one. Klímová makes objects that both resemble and fight against traditional painting. Plexiglas objects with lightly colored edges feel like reliefs formed by light. They are able to simulate traditional paintings as well as design work, furniture, and stage props. Are they cold and public, or intimate and mysterious?
Her other sphere of work is embroidered images, handmade artifacts artlessly concealing the universal theme of abstract painting. The paradox of handmade — or art therapy — works and the search for a “higher order” creates tension and a feeling of ineptitude. The seeming naivety of her paintings results in the confrontation between the serious and the hollow, the sincere and the awkward.
Her teddy toys series — paintings covered in artificial fur and decorated with colorful plastic accessories — obviously represents an ironic while seemingly desperate question asking: What is to be done with all this art? In its infantile or street version, an image almost becomes a necessity, a fetish and a final rescue. Something not so easy to get rid of.
Barbora Klímová is still patiently waiting for her first image to betray her.
Lin

01.01.2001