The Guardians
Jan Čejka Gallery in Prague
2024 - 2025
curator © Jan Čejka
For Lenka Falušiová, wherever there is a forest, there is a sanctuary. Since childhood, she has been learning to read its inner order and to communicate with the communities that dwell there, both during physical visits and in her own imagination. She spends a significant part of her day there. She observes quietly. She lingers. And, as nowhere else, she becomes one with nature.
When resting in the forest, Lenka Falušiová turns her attention particularly to the trees. She regards them as guardians over the goings-on there. The branches, from the roots to the crowns, determine the movement of everything that enters the forest. People, animals, light, wind and water are all under their protection and in their shade, whilst the shadows there take on many different forms.
We are talking about events that people tend to associate with fairy tales and fantasy stories, yet for Lenka Falušiová they are very real. She fills the pages of her diaries with them and draws inspiration from them when creating her paintings.
On one occasion, a dark figure pursued her into the rocky outcrops. When it took Lenka by the shoulder, it turned out, fortunately, to be merely a dream. However, when Lenka awoke with a start, a flock of crows was cawing in the bushes outside her bedroom window. On another occasion, she was observed from a distance by an indistinct, shape-shifting mythical creature, which, as it drew nearer, ultimately transformed into nothing more than an old, twisted root. She has also had countless ‘chance’ encounters with wildlife, be it a white doe or hundreds of butterflies, for whom she became a flower for a moment.
These stories possess such a powerful atmosphere that one is inclined to turn to the imagination rather than seek a rational explanation. And this is precisely what characterises Lenka Falušiová’s latest work. She draws and paints from real life, yet not for the sake of imitation – a skill she has mastered to perfection. For years she has been exploring the diversity of branches, pine needles, cones, leaves, stones and other natural objects, so that she might set out in search of them. Rather than the structures themselves, she seeks something more within them – an atmosphere and beings – the spirit of the forest. And, drawing on memories and diary entries, she intuitively creates abstract scenes that portray the forest as such a complex environment that the human imagination finds itself pushed to the limits of its capabilities.
