artists

Soulful and Spiritual Reality

Štěpánka Šimlová never wanted to change reality. And virtual reality was never her intention. Even if she were capable of creating perfect illusion from technology she would not make use of it. Her interference must be visible. Although the result seemingly approaches that of illusion and her detailed computer work is evident, there is always something a bit off, something different from what should be. The total work has a different perspective, an artlessly inserted element or forgotten detail and the intentional mistake is part of her expression. In combination with the represented scene it can look like an illustration from a manifesto of avant-garde ideology, which is so rare nowadays. She first makes scenes by repeating several landscape motifs. The imprints of elements in rows or in mirror opposition, though very evident, feel natural. When we look at them we desire them rather than find their existence permissible. Her wish to create an altruist city reminds us even more of metropolitan panoramas, whose neon lights address inhabitants with placid appeals and flashes of seemingly illogical acts. We have always longed for something different. To change the world?

Ivan Mecl, Umělec magazine, 3/2003

Born 1966 in Pilzen, Czech Republic. Currently lives and works in Prague. Šimlová graduated from the Prague Academy of Fine Arts, School of Intermedia Studies under Professor Milan Knížák in 1996. She is a member of the dynamic generation of young female artists who began exhibiting in the early 1990s, when they were still students. Šimlová is mainly known for her work in digitally manipulated photo-montages, although she is also an impressive illustrator, whose drawings and paintings have been described as graffiti freestyle and she has most recently returned back to her earlier work with installations and objects. Štěpánka Šimlová has exhibited widely both at home and abroad and her work is included in the National Gallery Collection of Contemporary Art in Prague and the Prague City Gallery Collection. From 2002-2007, she was the head of the digital media studio at the Faculty of Arts and Design at J.E. Purkyně University in Ústí nad Labem.