LUCIA TALLOVÁ

Tomas Umrian Contemporary
Duration: 21st February - 28th March 2025


In her solo exhibition Marble Sky at the Tomas Umrian Contemporary Gallery, Lucia Tallová presents new works from several ongoing series—Unstable Monument, A Room with a View, and Fragility of Caryatid. Through the use of photographic media, the artist explores the tension between permanence and transience. Her works reimagine and repurpose the past, transforming it into evocative pieces that carry a sense of both fragility and timeless resonance.
Large assemblages, Objet Trouvé objects, and collages represent the artist's continuous search for and collection of old photographs, books, and various bizarre objects. These become the working material from which new stories—combining reality and fiction—are created. Tallová is building her own archive of fictional memories.
The patina of the materials and the deliberate flaws create a visual quality that she works with. It serves as another layer, or another tool. A surface never simply records the past; it is not a read-only memory. The weathered wood, ink-stained pages, and photosensitive film of photographic paper do not signal a finite end but, on the contrary, serve as the starting point for the blossoming of a magical renewal, whether real or imagined. The artist imbues these surfaces with volume, texture, and new plasticity, causing them to spill over into the present. By layering images from past eras, Tallová constructs strange, melancholic scenes that evoke both personal histories and collective memory. She seeks to establish a certain sensitivity that resonates with the viewer, precisely through its imperfections. Viewers are invited to project their own experiences and interpretations onto the work, creating a more open and subjective interaction. This allows space for connection, where the viewer's response becomes as much a part of the artwork as the piece itself.
Another key aspect of the works on display is the central role played by the female figure in Tallová's practice. Her collages and assemblages often depict the female figure or portrait, with the woman becoming the main character of the story through which she personalizes herself. The artist engages with historical content, drawing inspiration from various time periods and incorporating photographs from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Through this, she explores the position of women at the turn of the last century and compares it with their contemporary roles in the 21st century. In this context, women and their work were often viewed pejoratively and regarded as insignificant. History left them nameless and anonymous. Women were (and still are) invisible in many ways. The female figures balance in complex poses under the weight placed upon them or stand amidst the ruins' foundations like petrified Caryatids—motionless, silently accepting their fate.MARBLE SKY

Tomas Umrian Contemporary
Duration: 21st February - 28th March 2025


In her solo exhibition Marble Sky at the Tomas Umrian Contemporary Gallery, Lucia Tallová presents new works from several ongoing series—Unstable Monument, A Room with a View, and Fragility of Caryatid. Through the use of photographic media, the artist explores the tension between permanence and transience. Her works reimagine and repurpose the past, transforming it into evocative pieces that carry a sense of both fragility and timeless resonance.
Large assemblages, Objet Trouvé objects, and collages represent the artist's continuous search for and collection of old photographs, books, and various bizarre objects. These become the working material from which new stories—combining reality and fiction—are created. Tallová is building her own archive of fictional memories.
The patina of the materials and the deliberate flaws create a visual quality that she works with. It serves as another layer, or another tool. A surface never simply records the past; it is not a read-only memory. The weathered wood, ink-stained pages, and photosensitive film of photographic paper do not signal a finite end but, on the contrary, serve as the starting point for the blossoming of a magical renewal, whether real or imagined. The artist imbues these surfaces with volume, texture, and new plasticity, causing them to spill over into the present. By layering images from past eras, Tallová constructs strange, melancholic scenes that evoke both personal histories and collective memory. She seeks to establish a certain sensitivity that resonates with the viewer, precisely through its imperfections. Viewers are invited to project their own experiences and interpretations onto the work, creating a more open and subjective interaction. This allows space for connection, where the viewer's response becomes as much a part of the artwork as the piece itself.
Another key aspect of the works on display is the central role played by the female figure in Tallová's practice. Her collages and assemblages often depict the female figure or portrait, with the woman becoming the main character of the story through which she personalizes herself. The artist engages with historical content, drawing inspiration from various time periods and incorporating photographs from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Through this, she explores the position of women at the turn of the last century and compares it with their contemporary roles in the 21st century. In this context, women and their work were often viewed pejoratively and regarded as insignificant. History left them nameless and anonymous. Women were (and still are) invisible in many ways. The female figures balance in complex poses under the weight placed upon them or stand amidst the ruins' foundations like petrified Caryatids—motionless, silently accepting their fate.