Through Nature

The exhibition Through Nature (Prírodou) presents two artistic approaches connected by nature, the landscape that surrounds us. While to some it may be almost invisible or inconsequential, for the artists these are spaces without which they could neither create nor exist. Solitary walks through nature have become not only sources of inspiration but also material and creative resources for their working techniques, conceptually drawing the two artists together. Both share a reciprocal sense of detachment from reality and connection with nature. A feeling of self-alignment, respite, and inspiration. Consequently, they direct sharp focus towards invisible or rather, unseen environmental crises. Silvia’s Metabiosis (Metabióza, 2025) was created using acrylic painting integrated with sawdust gathered from trees infested by bark beetles and ants. Toxic Flow (2024) was created from sediments sourced from the Smolník Brook, which has suffered long-term heavy metal contamination. Lucia printed Fragments (Úlomky, 2025) of branches and bark from infested trees on a logging site. Perhaps a small glimmer of hope is offered by Lucia and her Margins (Medze, 2024)—works focusing on territories untouched by human intervention: unmown or wild meadows wedged between fields, other pastures, gardens, and built-up areas, naturally supporting biodiversity and ultimately ourselves, is that not so?

Through nature, landscape, earth—process, pigment… salvation? The influence of nature, landscape, flora, and the earth is also reflected in the wide array of techniques employed by the artists—sawdust, stream sediments, beach sand, branches, tree bark, stones, clay, spirulina, natural pigments, decoctions of botanical crops, as well as trees, meadows, forests, and their impressions…

Lucia enhances graphic precision, delicacy, and unexpected transparency with her own hand-made pigments, literally sewing and even embroidering her works (such as In-between Space /Medzipriestor, 2026) with quiet perseverance. Silvia’s experiments on the borderline between printmaking and painting, often executed directly in situ, are underscored by the sheer scale of her works (To Roll Through a Favourite Childhood Meadow and Playing in the Wind, 2023). Perhaps we all have a relationship to nature, but with nature… that is not quite so simple.