The Bastards series of paintings (2011–2016) and several ready-made objects created in her new place of residence are now presented for the first time in the Czech Republic.

The title “Probably in the Field” (“na poli” meaning “in the field” in Czech) refers to the artist currently playing the role of a Sicilian rural painter named Marghrit Napoli. However, it can also be understood in a more abstract way, as a random appearance in a certain system, or as questioning one’s place within that system, be it in the physical sense (relating to the body and to physics as well), or figuratively in the context of the contemporary arts scene, and perhaps in the hierarchy of art history.

Heterogeneous in its outputs, the work of Markéta Vaňková remains homogeneous in its message. Her firmly constructed world touches essential issues of being, while relating not only to her environment or “virtual friends” from among famous painters, scientists or pop-culture icons, but also to such absolute quantities as for instance cosmos. Closely interrelated motives appear in different forms throughout her work; like the structure of a fractal containing elements that constitute an entirety at the same time. The exhibition design follows this compact and vibrant universe, allowing the viewer to gradually sink into this complex structure of layers, or simply contemplate in the joyful landscape of the artist’s mind.

Markéta Vaňková (*1970) is an intermedia artist of the 1990s generation. She expresses herself mainly through painting, but also creates objects, ready-mades or videos. In 1999, when she graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague, she had her first individual public presentation – by coincidence, it was at the Černý pavouk in Ostrava. She took part in collective shows such as Zkušební provoz (Trial Run, 1995), Česká abstraHce (Czech AbstraHtion, 1996), Absence v záznamu (Absence in Record, 2008), and Někdy v sukni (In a Skirt – Sometimes, 2014). In the recent years she has lived alternatively in Prague and in the countryside in Sicily.

The loans of artworks for this exhibition from the National Gallery in Prague, the Adam Gallery and private collectors, are thankfully acknowledged.