Building a Mountain

March 14 - April 27, 2019

PBProject welcomes the first solo exhibition in France of Lucia Tallová, leading figure of the emergent Slovakian art scene. Born in 1985, she lives and works in Bratislava.

Tallová’s work is at the crossroads of various media. She works on photographs and objects that she assembles and deploys in space. The manipulations and themes she approaches create a new link, both material and poetic, between the elements on display.

Her installations always respond to a common methodology: objects, paintings, old photographs, collages and albums are meticulously arranged on a system of wooden shelves. Far from being a simple support, these structures determine each composition. The protocol is rigorously applied to each intervention while responding to different spatial constraints: new forms are born according to the characteristics of the environment.

The viewer is dealing with a fictional archive that reveals on several levels imaginary stories of anonymous people. In the manner of a cabinet of curiosities, the juxtaposition of heterogeneous elements generates a microcosm. Not intended to be used or assembled, these objects or fragments of works so far asleep in the artist’s studio, are rehabilitated and invested with a new meaning. Whether photographs, postcards, porcelain, stones or furniture, they all suggest a

presence or event related to the past of the artist. Old pictures and ancient stories are rewritten.

Manipulated and transformed, these remnants of memories are highlighted by layers of repeated patterns: such as black ink, tears of colour, dust and smoke particles, blurred horizons, ribbons or flowers, strong symbols of femininity and nostalgia.

The artist deliberately exploits some flaws present in the photographs: blurred images, compositional errors or simply the impact of time on the paper. These anomalies are accentuated by the use of painting and collage.

Her process stems from a need to capture the daily routine. At the end, even the most absolute form of archive is nothing more than a personal judgement and a succession of moments chosen by the author. Some memories deserve to be archived, others can be forgotten.