Erik Šille — Untitled

Erik Šille is probably the best known member of a distinctive generation of painters that are associated with the 4th Studio of Ivan Csudai at Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Bratislava. They entered the Slovak art scene in the first decade of the new millennium and are responsible for bringing painting back into the scope of both professionals and laymen. Šille developed his characteristic style when he was still studying and its origins can be traced to the visual language of comic books, street art, animated films and pop-culture in general that he both criticises and admires. He and his peers are known for using digital images as their main production template which is electronically manipulated and transferred on canvas quickly and efficiently using the technique of acrylic painting. Clear lines dominate Šille’s canvases, his compositions are based on graphic design, he uses bright and clear colour surfaces that are sometimes disrupted with more expressive visual means (blotches or brush strokes), lines of text describe the images and lately he also makes use of dim colour schemes and darker atmosphere. Šille likes to experiment with different forms of canvases and besides paintings he also creates occasionally objects or light boxes. His work creates a synthesis of images and signs of both eastern and western culture by mixing and recycling various elements and inspirational moments, layering bizarre scenes and combining various cartoon characters with references to art history. These hybrid scenes are set in an urban environment or mysterious landscapes that often incorporate water. Šille’s works also reflect upon current social topics, but instead of moralising he keeps his ironic distance. 

The Untitled painting was a donation to the Nitra Gallery’s collection and it was created as a part of the scientific conference on graffiti and street art that was held on 5 May 2006 in cooperation with the Institute of Literary and Artistic Communication and the Department of Mass Media Communication at Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra. One of the accompanying events included Šille’s six-hour painting marathon in front of passersby on the Štefánikova Street in downtown Nitra. The picture has a simple theme and composition and thanks to its easy readability, candy-like colours, rough bluntness, dark humour and irony it delivers the same communication impact as graffiti or street art. The motif of a headless doe was also a part of one of Šille’s previous series titled Sweet Life from 2005. This piece, however, depicts an absurd situation where a Disney-like cute doe hanged on a bunch of balloons roams the sky headless. If we were to feel outraged by this image because it is a work of art which is generally supposed to be positive, we should then ask ourselves why we don’t feel the same kind of disturbance when innocence and violence come together in the form of toys or computer games.