Maria Bartuszová: Being Nature

Venue: Bratislava City Gallery | Mirbach palace
Curator: Gabriela Garlatyová

“I want to work with clean principles. I believe that shapes, in and of themselves, have a powerful psychological impact – for example: angular, sharp, inorganic shapes convey a sense of coldness; rounded, organic shapes convey warmth; and touching rounded shapes can evoke a feeling of a tenderness, an embrace – perhaps even erotic sensations.”

Maria Bartuszová

The exhibition uses a holistic approach to explore the theme of humanity’s relationship with nature. It examines abstract, geometric, and biomorphic forms, while reflecting on themes of ecology and feminism. Nature was an essential part of the artist’s creative thinking; the idea of the world as an infinite space, a universe that expresses itself imaginatively. From the beginning of her career as a sculptress, Maria Bartuszová (1936–1996) focused on natural phenomena and cycles, such as rain, wind, and, later, melting snow. She embodied their changeable and ephemeral nature, their movement, temporality, rhythm, and power, sculpting them into solid, fixed forms and masses in the shapes of raindrops, grains, and eggs.

The exhibition focuses on key tactile puzzles made of plaster, as well as of aluminium and bronze, that are designed to be touched and assembled. It also presents Bartuszová as a sculptress who produced works for public spaces, particularly in eastern Slovakia, including in Košice, Rožňava, Revúca, Tatranská Lomnica, and Vyšné Ružbachy. Haptic puzzles attained their full significance during some of the first workshops of their kind in our country. Organised and documented by Gabriel Kladek in 1976 and 1983, they were designed for visually impaired children at the Primary School for the Visually Impaired in Levoča. The exhibition therefore cultivates a performative perception of art through workshop activities that demonstrate Bartuszová’s intention to create art connected to everyday life.

Gabriela Garlatyová