Oskár Čepan

“From the perspective of Generation Y, I critically (and uncritically) perceive visual social networks as a tool for the hyper-aestheticization of everyday life. I examine approaches to capturing the reality around us through the lens of a smartphone and freely describe my own fragments—experiences—as a user of a virtual network, using the language of abstract imagery. I notice the strategic-aesthetic qualities of social networks and the sensory stimuli of these new media, and (perhaps paradoxically) I connect them with reflections on materiality and image.

My work, often strangely connected with the phenomenon of water, oscillates between the organic and digital idea of flow. For me, water represents a method, a working process, and a metaphor. The virtual flow of endless images and stories shared in the online world creates a great space for entertainment but also tension at the same time. Everything is encapsulated, moving with the masses and never ending—just like water flowing through landscapes.”

Ráchel Jutka (1996) is a contemporary painter and visual artist born in Košice. She completed her bachelor's degree in Fine Art in Scotland (Moray School of Art; University of The Highlands and Islands, UK). She completed her master's degree at the Painting Studio at the Faculty of Arts in Košice (TUKE) under the supervision of doc. Mgr. Art. Ota Hudec, ArtD. She currently exhibits her work regularly in Slovakia and abroad, in joint and solo exhibitions, e.g. in the United Kingdom, Germany, the Czech Republic, and Hungary (New Contemporaries 2023, Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh; Another Profile Pic, Šopa Gallery, Košice; Bold Red Line, VUNU, Bratislava; Your Water Our Water, Delphi Space, Freising & aqb Project Space, Budapest & U10 Space, Belgrade, Serbia; Soil Not Oil, Slovak Institute in Prague, and others).

Photo: Lena Gallovičová