Štefan Papčo exhibits in Paris
Since February 5, Slovak artist Štefan Papčo has been exhibiting a set of sculptures called "Earth as Bodily Matter" in the gallery located near the George Pompidou Center. The exhibition is curated by Elena Sorokina, a French curator of Russian origin, supported by the Bratislava-Prague gallery Zahorian & Van Espen.
2 rue Beaubourg, 75004 Paris
The exhibition at the Jérôme Poggi Gallery was introduced by Friday's opening with the support in nature (also in personam) of the Embassy of the Slovak Republic and SI Paris, as well as with the participation of the author.
Štefan Papčo (Ružomberok, 1983) presents works whose origin is closely connected with mountaineering, in which he has been interested for many years. This art and sports combinations are sculptural objects based on strong personal experiences in alpine terrain. As well as a sculpture in honor of Pavel Pochylý, well hidden not far from the winter solo direttissima by the north face of the Eiger in the Austrian Alps, which brought climbing legend to the legendary "Spider". Only he knows their places. The focus of Papč's work is sculptural not only in traditional but also in new materials such as wood (linden, poplar, pine), concrete, glass, silicone or resin.
Štefan Papčo graduated from the Sculpture studio at the AFAD and soon became one of the most acclaimed young artists in Slovakia: he was a finalist in the Oskár Čepan Award (2010), won the Best Open Studio and Grand Prize at the DUMBO Arts Festival in New York (2011), or the Award Tatra banka Foundation in the Young Creator category (2013). He returned to the AFAD as an assistant professor at the Department of Sculpture, object, installation, where he still works.
He has exhibited in the Czech Republic, Austria, France (Art Fair Paris), Norway and Italy.
foto: Dominika Karabová
As an echo to Papco’s work, the gallery invited other artists to contribute their notes on several topics : verticality and its politics, gravity and perspective, the terrestrial and the cosmic. These artists include Kapwani Kiwanga, Wesley Meuris, Sophie Ristelhueber and Yu Hsin Su as well as an interview by Julius Koller drawing on his fictional institution located between the earth and the cosmos.
More information: galeriepoggi.com