Juliana Mrvová: V jej záhrade (rozkoší)

The exhibition In her garden (pleasure) presents the latest work of the Slovak painter Juliana Mrvová, who is one of the most unique authors of our art scene. Her neo-expressive large-format painting has alliances with activist ecological and environmental content, connecting classic painting craftsmanship and mastery with experimentation with technology, colors and materials. In her work, the author connects the process of painting with daily care for the landscape and garden and with a deep interest in natural processes, materials and their transformations. For her, the plant kingdom is not only a source of food, but also a starting point for the very medium of painting. He creates natural pigments and vegetable dyes from flowers, bark, fruits and cuttings of fruit trees, with which he paints on canvas and paper. Painting thus becomes a continuation of the garden by other means – a process that combines cultivation, harvesting, coloring and painting. A plum painted with plum dye or drawings created with tampon ink are not only a formal experiment, but a conscious linking of place, material and meaning. At the same time, Juliana metaphorically processes her new and unique role, the role of a mother. It doesn't have to be in the foreground, but it is immanently present in her work from the moment her son was born.

The motif of the fertile landscape is also connected to the world of animals in the works of Juliana Mrvová - newts, frogs, praying mantises, pandras, bats and weasels. He perceives them as bearers of both biological and symbolic stories. Fruits and some animals carry meanings of fertility, sexuality and transformation since ancient times. Humans often remain in the background in these images, but they fundamentally influence the landscape through their activities - both restoration and interventions that change its balance.

The exhibition In her garden (pleasure) follows the long-term artistic program of Juliana Mrvová, in which painting functions as a way of observing and recording the relationship of man to nature and the landscape.

During the exhibition, White & Weiss Gallery will also present the launch of Juliana Mrvová's monograph, which maps the last ten years of her work. The exhibition will be complemented by an accompanying program in the form of discussions, guided tours and workshops, which will offer a deeper insight into the author's creative process and the topics with which she works.

Juliana Mrvová is a Slovak painter and curator, whose work
has long been shaped by movement - travel, wandering through the countryside and stays at artist residencies. Travels and work in different cultural and natural environments were for her a fundamental impulse to painting and a way to collect experiences, stimuli and visual stories. She currently lives and works in Hontianske Trstűny, where she moved with her partner and young son. It is here that her attention naturally turns to the immediate landscape and wilderness "right behind the house" - and to painting as a possibility to convey the intense relationship of man to the nature that surrounds him every day. Juliana Mrvová exhibited at individual and collective exhibitions in Slovakia and abroad and completed numerous artist residencies. Her work is represented in both public and private collections.

Juliana Mrvová: In her garden (pleasure)
curator: Gabriela Garlatyová
5. 2 – 20 March 2026

Supported from public resources by the Art Support Fund