Oskár Čepan

Natália Šimonová (1995, Žiar nad Hronom) Education 2022–2025 Faculty of Fine Arts, Academy of Arts in Banská Bystrica, doctoral studies (under the supervision of Prof. Jiří David, akad. mal.) 2020–2022 Faculty of Fine Arts, Academy of Arts in Banská Bystrica (Open Painting Studio of Mgr. art. Rastislav Podoba, ArtD.), major: fine arts 2016–2020 Faculty of Fine Arts, Academy of Arts in Banská Bystrica (Open Painting Studio of Assoc. Prof. Rastislav Podoba, ArtD.), major: painting, completed Bachelor’s degree Awards 2025 Slovak Rectors’ Conference Art Award 2025 2024 One of the winners of the Púpava Development competition 2024 Finalist of the Novum Foundation 2021 Strabag Artaward – Recognition Award 2020 1st place in the Maľba 2020 competition – VÚB Foundation Award for a painting by a young artist 2020 Nomination for Student Personality of the Year 2019/2020 2020 Dean’s Award for the best bachelor’s thesis titled Post-Structure, for extracurricular activities and representation of the Faculty of Fine Arts Solo Exhibitions(selection)2025 Tribunes,Fences,Antennas,Danubiana,Museum of Modern Art,Bratislava,May 6 – June 15,2025, curator:Vlad Beskid Metalayers, Považská Art Gallery in Žilina, June 16 – July 7, 2025, curator: Adrián Kobetič 2024 Displaced Structures, Topoľčany Gallery, July 18 – September 5, 2024, curator: Adam Korcsmáros Convergences, Nová Vlna, April 4 – May 3, 2024, curator: Martina Vyskupová 2023Observer of the (Inter)City, Zichy Old Town Gallery, curator: Petra Maláková, May 25 – June 25, 2023 Beyond the Memory, Art Capital Gallery, April 28 – May 19,2023,curator:Nina Vrbanová Raster,DOT. Contemporary Art Gallery, September 20 – October 22,2023,curator:Patrik Krajčovič Labyrinths of Erosive Processes,FX Gallery, October 4, 2023,curator: Adam Korcsmáros 2022 New Facade IV:Relics of the Ellipse,Hájovňa – Červená Studňa,September 2022 – May2023 Iron Towers,Čepan Gallery,Trnava,August 13 – October 30,2022,curator: Patrik Krajčovič T – Rust Landscape, Strabag, Kunstforum, Vienna, February 17, 2022 – February 18, 2022, curator: Vlad Beskid 2021 Traces of the Landscape,Koniareň,Trebišov,solo exhibition, November 4 – December 11, 2021, curator:Petra Maláková Rusty Memory, Platform 1–12 in Topoľčany, July 29 – August 30, 2021, curator: Filip Krutek Group Exhibitions (selection) 2026 The Time of Observation, Galerie Olivier Waltman, Paris, Jan. 31 – Feb. 28, 2026, curator: Vlad Beskid XYZ – Painting Across Three Generations Competition, Nedbalka Gallery,Bratislava,January 30, 2026 – March 1, 2026,curator: Nina Gažovičová 2025 Fragments from the Heuristics of Corrosive Phenomena, Schemnitz Gallery,Banská Štiavnica, Nov. 1 – Dec. 1,2025,curator:Adam Korcsmáros Tera Incognita, Liaunig Museum, Austria, April 26 – October 31, 2025, curator: Miroslav Haľák City Lights, French Institute in Bratislava, January 30–March 7, 2025, curators: Vlad Beskid and Olivier Waltman 2024 The Search for Utopia, Culture Lab LIC, New York, curators: Tess Howsam and Soňa Jakubová 2023 Slovak Radio Gallery, Bratislava, September 21, 2022 – January 27, 2023, curator: Ivan Jančár, selection of works: Nina Vrbanová 2022Scooter V – Young Art Event, Ján Koniarek Gallery in Trnava, May 20 – July 24, 2022, curator: Vlad Beskid 2020 Safe, Hidden, Nitra Gallery – Bunker, Nitra, September 17 – October 25,2020,curator: Adrián Kobetič Enigmatic Landscape, Ján Koniarek Gallery in Trnava, June 19 – August 23, 2020, curator: Filip Krutek

Statement

My artistic practice is conceived as a long-term, systematic research of elements within public space, with a particular focus on post-socialist structures in Slovakia.This research is grounded in the analysis of layers—material,visual,and social. Initially,my work focused on children’s playgrounds from the socialist period,examined through the lens of destruction;over time, however,I have expanded this framework to encompass a broader field of public space and its typological elements.My practice is based on a dynamic relationship between image and reality.I translate layers of public space into the medium of painting,where they are transformed into pictorial structures,while at the same time allowing painterly layers to re-enter physical space as autonomous interventions.I thus understand painting within the framework of the expanded field—not as a closed pictorial object, but as a processual entity capable of exceeding its own medium and participating in the formation of both material and semantic layers of the environment.Rust constitutes the primary medium of my work, which I perceive both as a material and as an index of time.Its processual character—growth,decay,and transformation—parallels both natural and socially conditioned changes.In my paintings,rust and corrosion operate as active processes:they grow,falldown,and shift in tonality.Corrosion,understood as the degradation of materials(particularly metals),has become a subject of deeper investigation within my practice.Through this research,I have engaged with scientific approaches to corrosion,including the work of Prof.J.Kocich,often referred to as the“father of rust”in Slovakia,whose publications(such as Corrosion and Protection of Metals)have significantly influenced my understanding of material processes. Within this context,I approach painting through the principle of “deep mimesis”—a form of intrinsic resemblance to the phenomena under examination, in which the image does not function as representation, but as a materially and conceptually analogous structure.Alongside rust,I employ techniques such as frottage,collage, décollage,and oil painting,all of which I subject to processes of destruction.In my recent work, drawing and color have assumed a more prominent role,with expressive painterly gestures entering into tension with processes of erosion and decay.This tension between construction and destruction constitutes one of the fundamental principles of my practice.I understand material degradation,layering,and the uncovering of surfaces as visual analogies to shifts in social regimes,collective memory,and cultural values.I am particularly interested in moments when objects lose their original function and acquire new,often ambiguous identities.I focus on elements of minor architecture and urban infrastructure—fences,lighting,benches and public announcement systems.I do not approach these objects ideologically,but rather as carriers of everyday experience and sedimented historical layers.I construct my own typological archive of these elements, which enables me to analyze the relationship between the individual and their environment,as well as the mechanisms through which visual experience is formed. Methodologically,my work is grounded in careful observation and analytical engagement with the environment.I seek to reveal subtle,often overlooked relationships and structures situated at the intersection of functionality,aesthetics, and decay.The loss of collective memory,through the deconstruction and disappearance of architectural elements,represents one of my work.