For immediate release: October 31, 2003
MILENA DOPITOVA
Sixtysomething
November 22 – December 20
Milena Dopitová, based in Prague, will exhibit photographs, videos, and sculptures that relate to the subject of aging and passing time. Referencing the routines of everyday life, Dopitová explores themes of identity, often juxtaposing self-portraits with portraits of her twin sister. In her new work, Dopitová suggests the depth of restrained emotions, touching upon themes of love, isolation, and vulnerability.
The installation, which combines staged photography and role-playing, documentary footage, and constructed objects, is divided into two parts.
Sixtysomething consists of large-scale digital photographs that depict the forty-year old artist and her sister as older women, transformed with stage make-up and wearing similar age-appropriate dress. The double portraits demonstrate subtle differences within the greater similarities of the identical twins, intensifying nuances of expression and raising questions about individuality versus societal influences. Muted colors, a melancholy atmosphere, and static poses in staged settings evoke a Mittel-Europe vanishing past. Paradoxically, the scenes appear to foresee possible future experiences of the present-day sisters. Videotapes document the process of their physical transformation.
A Dance? presents a silent video projection of senior citizens, dancing in couples en plein air; as a counterpoint, oversize pairs of butterflies, constructed from metal and fabric, are positioned around the gallery space to suggest mating patterns.
Born in Sternberk, Czechoslovakia in 1963, Dopitová graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague. Her work was exhibited in 1994 at the Feldman Gallery, in an exhibition of three artists from Central and Eastern Europe entitled You Must Remember This and in 1995 at the Venice Biennial. Recent group exhibitions include shows at Musée des Beaux-Arts de Nancy, France; Kunst Haus, Dresden, Germany; and the Whitechapel Art Gallery, London, England. The Czech Center in New York presented her work in 2002. She is a recipient of a Pollock-Krasner Foundation grant and The Central European Culture Initiative Prize, Vienna. Fellowships include the International and Curatorial Program in New York and the MAK Schindler Residency in Los Angeles.
There will be a reception Saturday, November 22: 6:00 – 8:00. Gallery Hours: Tuesday – Saturday: 10:00 – 6:00. Monday by appointment. For information, contact Laura Muggeo (212) 226-3232 or laura@feldmangallery.com.
|
