Patrik Ševčík — Conformism

Patrik Ševčík’s work focuses mostly on text. His 2D text-based installations and digital prints are usually quotations, appropriations or artistic interpretations of existing texts.  He also incorporates found and adopted objects that are put in new contexts. Based on the conceptual and post-conceptual strategies of contemporary art forms, his work sometimes misses its material final form, however, the important part is the one related through the texts themselves. Ševčík often negates or erases the texts, makes them disappear or unreadable, while using the emptiness to address existing objects or phenomena. He is interested in various social and political themes as well as the influence that mass-media have on our everyday lives. Besides free fine art, he also creates graphic designs, logotypes, corporate identities, designs posters and publications.

Two of the Conformism – Alternative cycle canvases are a part of the Nitra Gallery collection and they come from Ševčík’s early period that was influenced by his university printmaking studies. However, at the same time, they already outline his focus towards symbol-based and conceptual language and his typical use of the empty and full opposites. The semi-translucent canvases are divided into two parts. On the left side, there are figures standing in straight lines – simple pictographs of people. The serial characteristic of the mechanical stamping refers to the conformity of man as a part of the society. In the first canvas, there is a lone figure on the right side of the canvas that has stepped out of the crowd (where it has left an empty spot) and appears to be walking instead of standing still obediently. In the second canvas, there are more figures walking out of the crowd. As the title suggests, the main theme of the cycle is adaptability, or rather its opposites – the unwillingness to adapt and obey, the wish to stand out of the crowd. The single nonconforming person in the first image does not leave a big impact on the crowd in the form of a single empty spot (he is not “dangerous” to the masses). In the second image, there are more nonconformists on the right side of the canvas that left a more visible mark on the society in the form of more “empty spots”. These works can be perceived as a contemplation of what it means to adapt to the majority and how the majority looks at an individual that does not want be a part of it. Of course, when it is just a single person, all eyes are on him/her – though having the smallest impact on the general society. If there are more people who do not fit in, they are much more easily heard. Over time, they can achieve their goals faster and they can eventually be accepted by the majority as well (e.g. marginalized groups such as homosexuals and others). However, if everybody moves over to the other side, the nonconformity becomes the new norm, new conformism – it is the same scenario as when it comes to fashion trends and subculture waves. So what does it mean to be alternative? Alternative to who/what? Who is more conforming? The one who stays or the one who joins the “outcasts” who become the majority over time?