ARTIST STATEMENT

In her work explores how folk art – which grew out of and reflected human needs, and should thus be a foundation for our culture – became exotic territory in the 20th century. With an eye towards the questions of national culture and globalized society the 21st century tries (at worst) to mine what is left of folk culture and (at best) to find a new relationship to it. Modernism and the avant-garde, which the 21st century clings to as its rediscovered roots, represent a layover on the journey back to folk art. This situation is reflected in the art of Anna Hulačová, who places great emphasis on handcrafted, primarily sculptural works, on materials that emphasize natural and traditional roots, and on techniques that reflect a sense of sophistication, logic, and symbolism of folk art. Her interests also include devotional sculpture, Christianity and the cultures of indigenous peoples, but also the themes of home and family, which industrial and post-industrial society have lost touch with. Hulačová’s study of ethnography and the past is not just an exploratory expedition or cultural regression – her aim is to find new possibilities for emotion and spirituality in art, however much such formulations will sound pretentiously earnest to the modern intellect.

An excerpt from text by Edith Jeřábková