Martina Lukáč’s present exhibition further develops several concepts outlined in his previous installations (VISVA.CO, Galerie Kabinet, Brno 2015; MacGyver, Photoport – Centrum vizuálneho umenia, Bratislava 2017; Special Feature, Galerie TIC, Brno 2017). Faithful to expanded painting strategies, he again creates a hybrid semantic environment that allows him to present paintings in a non-typical context. This process stems from his re-definition of the traditional concept of painting exhibition and of the understanding and position of painting in contemporary society. By confronting these notions and actively exploring new combinations of canvas and objects, he acknowledges a wide range of impulses that have shaped his work, as well as his interest in playing with the meanings of signs and motives, both old and new, reflected in various aspects of today’s culture. The exhibition space thus creates a rather surprising visual and semantic framework in which images - on canvas and beyond - are re-defined.
The installations created by Martin Lukáč not only combine high culture with the popular ‘trash’ aesthetic, but also confront the audience with a visual experience that is radically different from their expectations and previous experience. Far from unexpected aesthetic encounters, famously described by Lautréamont ("beautiful as the chance meeting on a dissecting-table of a sewing-machine and an umbrella"), these are radical juxtapositions of radically different visual worlds. Lukáč’s combinations of hanging paintings, paintings as objects, containers and visual smog, create an environment governed by the author’s visual preferences, confronting the visual aspects of galleries with those of the outside world. These pieces also reflect elements of speculative realism aesthetic and contemporary shift towards object. However, we should not overlook the author’s awareness of the complex relationships between the original, its copies, series, author’s gesture and unified trademarks.
