This solo exhibition of young Slovak painter Natália Šimonová (1995) presents a study of her recent work in the field of expanded painting. Her collection of canvases and fences creates an intense painting environment of the urban periphery, public space, and its “rusted” memories.
Her long-term creative program brings to the surface of the image fields, three supporting planes. It features RESEARCH in the broad sense of the term: starting with urbex (urban exploration) - which is the monitoring of old factories, abandoned halls, and industrial grounds (and includes a comprehensive documentary archive of photographs as a gateway to the image world) followed by artistic research of the medium of painting itself, its possibilities and expressions.
The second area is the study and exploration of RUST and CORROSION - which have become her artistic profile and dominant “stigma” of her canvases since 2016. Natália supports this process of the degradation of metal surfaces with other materials, which she subsequently transforms into her canvases. Her work with rust is also modeled by two exhibition walls of scattered rust on paper and canvases, which form an earthy base for smaller formats in this archeological landscape of persistent corrosion.
The third level of the artist’s thinking is LAYERING. In particular, a combination of painting techniques and approaches where she adds and layers other techniques and materials such as rust, oil, acrylic, mold, dry pastel, carbon, elements of collage and frottage of details from trips abroad, to the main role of corrosion. Individual parts, pieces of canvas or prints, are then folded, overlapped, and layered - collaged, decollaged, on the canvas; making the surface and the overall expression of the painting thick and rough.
The creation of a coherent painting environment in the “heart” of the Danubiana is also aided by the inclusion of several fragments of fences and gates, which complete the impression of uncertainty, obstacles, and the division of space and society, while metaphorically transporting us from the retro past to today’s uncertain days...
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Natália ŠIMONOVÁ (born 1995 in Žiar nad Hronom), lives and works in Prašice pri Topoľčany and Banská Bystrica. Education: 2016-2022 - Faculty of Fine Arts, Academy of Arts in Banská Bystrica (studio of doc. Rastislav Podoba); currently a doctoral student at the AU with prof. Jiří David. Awards: 2024: laureate of the Púpava Trnava competition; finalist of the Novum Foundation Award; 2021: finalist of the Strabag International Art Award Vienna; 2020: 1st place VUB painting of the year Bratislava; Residencies: Cité international des Arts Paris. Current and recent exhibitions: 2025 - Terra Incognita, Museum Liaunig; 2025 - Metalayers, PGU Žilina; 2025 - At the crossroads of memories, Gallery ČC Paris; 2024 – City Code, Olivier Waltman Gallery Paris; 2023 – Raster, Dot. Contemporary Bratislava; 2022 – (T)rust Landscapes, Strabag Kunstforum Vienna.
