Martin Lukáč at Nevven Gallery

Artist: Martin Lukáč

Exhibition title: Aww Yeah!

Venue: Nevven Gallery, Göteborg, Sweden

Date: February 14 – March 10, 2019

Photography: all images copyright and courtesy of the artist and Nevven Gallery, Göteborg

Nevven is proud to present Aww Yeah! a solo exhibition of new paintings by Slovak artist Martin Lukáč.

Neither fully figurative nor completely abstract, the paintings by Martin Lukáč are unruly and elegant. Repetition is fundamental in his practice. The Slovak artist’s series are built upon the iteration of straightforward powerful graphic elements and abstract ideas. Sometimes the result is purely abstract and expressionist series. More often, figurative features, like fictional characters and appropriations from popular culture, are brutally superimposed to the elaborate backgrounds — in an act which is both of defiance and exaltation of the abstract quality of the works.

A pirate face is repeated in most of the paintings featured in Aww Yeah!. Quickly traced with oil—stick over the otherwise abstract and gestural canvases, the nature of this character is enigmatic, defiant and ironic at the same time. What this pirate symbolises is deliberately left open to interpretation and misinterpretation, as it is of no concern to a rebel what people might think of him. The nihilism and the disruptive power of this character emerge in the fast paced, obsessive repetition in which it is portrayed and sometimes erased. Its ubiquitous presence and self—assertion stand as a provocation and a dare to the viewer.

This series, which is presented for the first time in this exhibition, is combined with new takes on older works and with the introduction of formal elements unprecedented in Lukáč’s paintings. The long—lasting series of Ninja Turtles’ portraits is reinterpreted with textile interventions, which are appearing for the first time in his practice — hinting to the artist’s interest and current collaborations within the fashion world. The works in this show, emboldened by colourful, heavy frames are exhibited in an experimental and maximalist installation overturning and overpowering the gallery space.

Aww Yeah! is a kaleidoscopic burst. A rich semiotic field that strongly reflects the creative urge behind this new body of work, in which the artist is introducing both technical and thematical new elements. Aww Yeah! is an immersive experience, in which Martin Lukáč wants to overwhelm the viewer with the unruly nature of the installation and its reckless and provocative protagonists.

Martin Lukáč, Aww Yeah!, 2019, exhibition view, Nevven Gallery, Göteborg, Photography by David Eng

Martin Lukáč Pirate King, 2019 (Oil and oil-stick on canvas, 104 x 80 cm). Picture courtesy of Nevven Gallery. Photography by Ondrej Polak

Martin Lukáč, Aww Yeah!, 2019, exhibition view, Nevven Gallery, Göteborg, Photography by David Eng

Martin Lukáč X Laformela Laformela, 2018 (Various materials on cotton, acrylic and burn marks, 120 x 104 cm). Picture courtesy of Nevven Gallery. Photography by Ondrej Polak

Martin Lukáč, Aww Yeah!, 2019, exhibition view, Nevven Gallery, Göteborg, Photography by David Eng

Martin Lukáč Pirate in Car, 2018 (Oil and oil-stick on canvas, 90 x 70 cm). Picture courtesy of Nevven Gallery. Photography by Ondrej Polak

Martin Lukáč, Aww Yeah!, 2019, exhibition view, Nevven Gallery, Göteborg, Photography by David Eng

Martin Lukáč No Love All Hate Pirate, 2018 (Oil and oil-stick on canvas, 143 x 110 cm). Picture courtesy of Nevven Gallery. Photography by Ondrej Polak