Ester Knapová↓

About the work

What should people know about your work?

My diploma work is a series of three large-format paintings, smoothly continuating my previous work. Although the paintings were made at the same time, each one is an independent result of a long-term, process-based investigation which always begins with one or more photographs from my personal archive. However, these starting points are always transformed into a new, entirely imaginary painting containing only fragments of the original information.

The search for colour is anchored in a kind of personal system where one colour is derived from another and they are only rarely applied in such a way as to create contrast. Thus, in terms of light, each of the three paintings has a different aspect, either as a result of natural lighting, or as an effect created by photography.

How do you see yourself and your work five years from now?

My artistic practice develops continually and consists of the search for a language of painting. So far, I have been able to observe certain repeating stages. Primarily, it’s about manoeuvring between figuration and a more abstract form. During my years at the academy I have moved from figurative paintings to markedly simplified studies of light and abstracted landscapes, and then back to paintings where figures appear in some way or another. I expect that these cycles will continue to repeat with new variations and alternatives. In view of the nature of my work, I don’t think that a radical change will occur in terms of the way I think, although some kind of development is always important for me.