Ester Šefčíková-Zaňáková

Viktor Šefčík often describes Ester as his finest work. A deeply touching confession from a father to his daughter. Almost all of her life to date has been spent in a harmonious symbiosis with her father. Life in his studio has brought innumerable stimuli for her artistic development; she has learned informally from observing the visual impulses and dialogues involved in the creative process, either under the guidance of various artists or, more especially, the influence of her father, the academic painter Viktor Šefčík. Deftly navigating past the risks of emulation, she has successfully established herself as an independent artistic personality.

Her work shows traces of a shared conceptual preoccupation with her father, more specifically the creation of sensitive organic sculptures, but she has boldly set out on her own path. She describes her artistic approach as follows: “My thinking is transposed into artworks with natural, biological forms. I seek out the fundamental organic shapes, probing the inclinations towards biomorphic compositions, archetypes inspired by the language of natural morphology … Nature and its primaeval forms have offered me a rich complex of metamorphoses, a means of comprehending the primal essence of the World and the phenomena which exist within it”.

The sculptures presented here (UNTITLED I, II) are an expression of these ruminations on the primal nature of the World and her devoted relationship to it. They form a visual counterpoint to her father’s paintings, yet somehow still complement his work perfectly. While Viktor offers his viewers a meticulously detailed view of the inner structure of flowers, Ester refines her forms exquisitely, concealing them within an embrace, as if to protect their inner essence from prying eyes. Under closer observation, we can discern morphologies which seem to derive from germinating seeds, buds, branches, stones and natural cavities. They radiate a sense of solidity and maturity which belies their sketch-like form.

Ester Šefčíková-Zaňáková is a textbook example of a young artist whose work draws upon a deep symbiosis with nature and a spiritual dialogue with the world around her. Her highly individual creative approach radiates a distinctive sensitivity and the search for a personal style which highlights her inherent potential for further artistic growth.

Edita Vološčuková, project curator