Simona Janišová: FireWork is on view at Station Contemporary Art Gallery, Bratislava
March 28 – April 26, 2025
Curated by Ivana Moncoľová
Simona Janišová’s exhibition at the Station Gallery in Bratislava is part of a continuous series of works and exhibitions dedicated to the element of fire in relation to ceramic working practices. The exhibition FireWork speaks of works made by fire, but also of a parade/fireworks of “ideas” that are possible, intuitive, and exploratory in the process of making and practicing with clay or ceramics.
The difference between design, small-batch production, and free creation lies in Simona Janišová’s freedom. The exhibition presents drawings that serve as the initial impulse to start a sculptural series in clay, but working with her hands and shaping clay often leads the artist toward unexpected shifts. This evolution during the preparation, modeling, and firing process is a loose path, at the end of which emerges a series of works that hold a personal and often conceptual framework—a familial and personal story. Simona Janišová responds to stimuli created in the moment. The oldest object in the exhibition, the “rose gold” bowl, holds a story of melting a gold chain left by a loved one, which colors the bowl pink inside (this is also the principle of how pink porcelain is colored—by adding gold). The artist has used this process to fix her relationship with that person in her work.
The series of “heads”—Fortune Teller (2022), the dark Burning Charcoal, the red Playing with Fire (2021), and the white Shinny Mammy (2021)—are hand-formed from mixed clay shards using a “coil” layering technique. They are kiln-fired and glazed (some partially, some completely). The dynamic technique of layering volumes of clay and firing is a way of not quite being sure. The temperature of the fire, cooling, and the shrinkage of the material itself all influence the result. This intuitive and physically demanding journey is materialized most clearly in the two-meter-tall sculpture of a male figure, White Mage (2022), which the artist created during the International Ceramic Symposium in Kalinovo (Slovakia).
“For her, the white mage is a being who does intuitive good, thinks with the heart, and looks with an inner eye hidden in the depths of his being.” The sculpture emphasizes this by gesturing toward the viewer. The object White Flame (2022) was also created at the symposium in Kalinovo, based on a wooden object she found on the premises of a ceramic factory for fireclay parts. The genius loci of the place inspired her to shape a vase connected to the wooden residue of the technical production of the past.
Simona Janišová (b. 1985) has been active in the art scene since graduating from the Academy of Fine Arts in Bratislava, pursuing multiple paths in parallel: working in design, producing small-batch collections under the brand si.li. (with Linda Viková), and engaging intensively in freelance work with a spatial-sculptural approach. The exhibition presents a cross-section of her free work in clay, as well as in drawing, which is at the beginning of each piece. The exhibition is a continued homage to fire as the main agent in working with clay. The artist works with the present stimuli of her life, such as the birth of a child, relationships, the cycle of life, and doing good. In her artistic practice, she is also interested in the broader context of the historical sediments of places associated with ceramic and fireclay production. Most of the works in the exhibition are made from fired clay. The process of forming the shape is based on forming clay shards (the ‘coil’ process in English), which allows her to create large hollow volumes—figures, busts, and heads. Some are ghostly; some are pastel-soft, reminiscent of flickering fires. This is her way of paying homage to fire and heat, which can both fix and (also) shrink or spoil a sculpted shape.
Contact
info@stationgallery.sk
Station Contemporary Art Gallery
Ul. Gustáva Mallého 2
851 01 Bratislava
Slovakia
Photos by Adam Šákový
