Patrik Ševčík — from the series Day Off

Patrik Ševčík’s large format prints from the series Day Off I – IV have been produced using an original mixed-media technique on paper. The series title itself emphasises the uncertainty of these days and asks questions related to worldwide globalisation. At first glance, the image is hard to read which is caused by the screen printing “grain” effect and also by its impression which tends to change over time. Our eyes get used to the screen, focus and for a few seconds, the scene seems “alright”. At the same moment, we notice the inconsistency, the contrast and we start feeling danger, fear and uncertainty which tend to last. When does a photograph taken during a vacation on the beach turn into a catastrophic scene from a dystopian sci-fi future? Will a catastrophe catch us unprepared and when we least expect it? Is the sea really a place for relaxation as we, people from a country without one, idealise it so much to be?

The artist incorporates appropriated photographs of oil tankers, aircraft carriers and the contrast they produce when they are synthesised with family vacation photographs. He manipulates the image, merges situations and creates new contexts. Typical depictions of recreation evoking feelings of calmness and relaxation are hit with realistic depictions of a threat. Does he really merge unrelated events and creates contexts which are unlikely, or are we just ignoring that our future is being constantly threatened more and more? 

The whole series of serigraphs is dominated by contrast – it might be subtle, perhaps unobtrusive, but present nonetheless.

Day Off I depicts real people entering the sea in the lower third of the scene, but when they look up and turn away from the calming waves, what do they see? A crashed oil tanker with full containers, descending into the sea – unexpectedly close. 

People from the Day Off II image practice yoga on the beach, in the bottom half of the scene, but a military aircraft carrier in the background does not forecast anything good – danger can come at any given time, even during our day off…

Day Off III – a relaxing time on the beach, lying on a blanket or a towel, children playing safely close by in the sea, adults swimming in the cleansing sea waves. And a crashed cargo ship loaded with containers full of things we ship from one end of our round planet to the other. Things we need and do not need, they are the results of oversupply which suffocates us. 

Day Off IV is a panoramic depiction of a day on the beach with dimensions of 150 x 250 cm. It captures a joyful day of relaxation, showing typical activities of people spending their free time by the sea. It also incorporates beach sellers who have travelled thousands of miles, just like the merchandise they sell. At the same time, the horizon – which may not be a surprise at this point – depicts a slowly sinking cargo ship full of merchandise, slowly disappearing in the depths of the sea. 

Have we, Central Europeans, people without a direct access to the sea, thought about what it has already swallowed? What have we managed to “leave” there over the course of a few centuries? Starting with romantic notions of sunken ships full of treasures, actual military cemeteries, pollution caused by atomic bomb tests, all the way to the ever-moving plastic waste… Globalisation connects the unconnectable, but it accompanied by uncertainty and threats. Without sugar coding and with reference to his own research, the  artist criticises established standards and challenges them. As the curator Robert Makar stated: “His graphics speak critically and urgently about our civilisation, he points out numerous shortcomings of the system which allows us not to be isolated, but rather interconnected.”Nitra Gallery’s collections also include other works by the artist. By merging his original technique with found and appropriated photographs and expressive screen printing effects, the final digital prints of his works like Meerkat, Fox and Couple from 2018 have the same kind of disturbing effect, raising many unanswered questions.