Monika Michalko. Here in the Real World

Trees and creepers, birds and mushrooms, dwellings and scenic interiors: Monika Michalko (*1982 Sokolov, Czech Republic) combines figurative and object-like, organic and ornamental, abstract and architectural elements in her paintings. Her pictorial compositions are always fictitious: memories, phantasms and dream-like scenes form a painterly cosmos defined by its own laws. The specific tonality of her works also reinforces their dreamlike impression. Again and again, these compositions are vaguely reminiscent of modernist artists such as Paul Klee, Kasimir Malevich, Giorgio de Chirico, Odilon Redon or James Ensor.
With the exhibition Here in the Real World, the Kunsthalle Nürnberg is presenting Monika Michalko's cross-genre work comprehensively for the first time. The "real world" often enters the artist's studio via the radio. While painting, she listens to reports about world events, the crises, escalations and natural disasters of our time. Her often colourful, surreal compositions are created in awareness of this reality. At the same time, they represent the ability to escapistically create an alternative world.

Last edited on 07.10.2024