Lenka Konopasek, Remnants
SHOW DATES SEPTEMBER 6 – NOVEMBER 30, 2019 OPENING RECEPTION FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 6-9PM
ARTIST TALK SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 6PM LOCATION THE ARGO HOUSE, 529 25TH STREET, OGDEN, UTAH
Exhibition of 3D Paper Sculpture by Salt Lake City Artist Lenka Konopasek Opens at The Argo House in Ogden
Lenka Konopasek is a painter, sculptor and installation artist whose work comments on the beauty of destruction while raising important questions about the environmental consequences of human behavior. Based in Salt Lake City, Konopasek has exhibited her work in museums and galleries across the country and internationally, her most recent exhibition being “Mimicry” at the Utah Museum of Contemporary Art this past summer. “Remnants,” presented by independent curator Kelly Carper in collaboration with The Argo House, is an exhibition of Konopasek’s powerful three dimensional paper sculptures that defy the fragility of their medium with a dark and dangerous presence.
“With my objects, I contrast finely crafted and strangely beautiful images against harsh repulsion to draw attention to the beauty of violence,” says Konopasek. “I translate these images into more abstract objects with prickly textures and complex structures that often mimic organic materials and formations found in nature.”
Complex and painstakingly hand-made, Konopasek’s spiky surfaces and aggressive forms have been interpreted as scarred landscapes, hairy beasts and feathered creatures. Despite their eerie aura, each piece is gracefully composed, cascading from the wall in elegant, windswept strips. This dichotomy speaks directly to the heart of Konopasek’s work, which represents the seductive power of natural and manmade disasters. This timely exhibition also speaks to nature’s fragility, as the landscape is continuously scarred by humanity’s indifference toward environmental issues such as climate change and stewardship of our natural resources. “Remnants” illustrates this impact with an ominous tone, posing the question, what will be left behind?
“This theme emerged from my own personal anxieties as well as world events,” says the artist. “I am interested in assembling and breaking down structures and creating scenes and objects bristling with tension somewhere between beautiful and dangerous.”
Born in the Czech Republic, Lenka Konopasek has called Utah home for the past thirty years. She received her BFA in painting and drawing at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City and her MFA at the Maine College of Art in Portland, Maine. Her paintings and sculptures have been collected by institutions such as the National Art Gallery in Prague, Springville Museum of Art in Utah, National Museum of Dance in New York and the State of Utah Art Collection. Konopasek was awarded the Utah Visual Art Fellowship in 2018, and has been commissioned for various public art projects in Salt Lake City. Her most recent public art installation is a series of steel sculptures at the downtown Salt Lake Public Health Center.
