Title: Lethargy Blanket
Artist: Julia Gryboś and Barbora Zentková
Venue: Ján Koniarek Gallery in Trnava, Koppl Villa, Slovakia
Curator: Lýdia Pribišová
Sound performance: Jan Tomáš & Michal Ondrička
Photography: isonative
The artistic practice of the duo Julia Gryboś and Barbora Zentková has been evolving within the framework of sustainability, anchoring within exploring various material dimensions, recycling, upcycling, and a return to traditional textile techniques and craftsmanship. As representatives of a younger generation of artists, they turn to traditional artisanal, originally non-artistic techniques and materials. They work with second-hand textiles, whose original function has already been fulfilled. They work with colour pigments, wide strips of gauze, and draperies with various imprints. These function as imprints of the passage of time, capturing something that once was but no longer exists.
These textiles are applied directly to the gallery walls, creating a soft, site-specific wallpaper that envelops the exhibition space. The artists incorporate the architectural features of the gallery into the complexity of their installation. In their focused, concentrated work, they find protection and an escape from a world oversaturated with stimuli, speed, and efficiency.
Much in their art is subtly suggested, partially revealed. The artists engage with the duality of absence and presence, and with different scales of time—for the body and for the planet. The human impact on the planet is represented by wall reliefs made of layered cotton, resembling rock sediments, soil cross-sections, or planetary strata. The theme of layering and sedimentation also recurs in their objects, which consist of rounded organic metal structures and wax. As the wax gradually hardens, it forms layers reminiscent of solidified lava, echoing the fabric layers in the wall reliefs.
Observing the environments created by Julia Gryboś and Barbora Zentková, one contemplates the need for release, relaxation, cosiness, harmony, and refuge, as well as the weaving of friendships and meaningful encounters. The work is accompanied by a sound intervention by Jan Tomáš. The exhibition is presented in collaboration with the Polish Institute in Bratislava.
