evakadlec

[evakadlec]

ARTIST STATEMENT 2024

I’ve been working on a series of watercolors called ‘BÖSE BLUMEN’, a lovely crude

translation of ‘Fleurs du Mal’ (or Evil Flowers – Flowers of Evil).

The paintings depict anthropomorphic flowers, often the blue poppy, with wild-eyed faces and sharp teeth. They are cute, unhinged, lonely, desperate, thirsty.

Their faces borrow from memes (like the “I am not asking anymore” one), movie stills or emojis – one source of inspiration was a meme page which rated the hot emoji variations from different devices – the android one was described as “hngnn I am a thirsty little flower and you have to water me with [redacted]”).

I structure my work by creating sort of moodboards in magazine form or ‘manuals’ for myself. They consist of sketches, written notes and pictures glued in. These are sourced from other artists work I admire, movie stills of interest, or textures that evoke a specific memory.

A potent source are low-brow books on hobby artist techniques as well as the works of Henry Darger, George Barbier, Heather Benjamin or Simon Hanselmann.

This sourcing and sorting is an important part of my work.

The flower I depict the most, the blue poppy, is only found on the flanks of the Himalaya.

It is also the national flower of the Kingdom of Bhutan – the one country which put as its national goal the happiness of its people. Close by are also vast fields of red and pink poppies, the source of opium – i.e. heroin; a flowery symbol of global conflict and necro-capitalism.

But another fascinating aspect of the blue poppy is its similar function to the black swan.

The black swan theory describes the possibility of a totally unexpected event as still one possible outcome, even though it has been deemed impossible.

An illustration of that idea is found in David Lean’s “Lawrence of Arabia”.

In his 2019 video essay “Nothing Is Written... Or What Gives Me Hope”, G. Belvedere recounts an iconic scene from that film, the moment when Lawrence returns from the desert to the oasis:

“(...) before quenching his obvious deep thirst, [Lawrence] tells Ali once more: ‘Nothing is

written’. It is a powerful scene. This impresses Ali enough, that he remarks to Lawrence

later: ‘Truly, for some men, nothing is written unless they wrote it.’ (...) too often, people

point to tendencies and practices, as if they’d represent absolute truth, and this mantra can

help us test these artificial boundaries; in the political and economic spheres in particular,

we see people simply accepting the state of human affairs as natural, and unchangeable. (...)”

In 2019, I took a sharp turn from my previous, more abstract work. I leaned into my earliest and most personal sources of inspiration: Weird puppets from children’s TV-shows, emotive catholic imagery, fairy tale narratives, and the language of  internet subcultures.

In making BÖSE BLUMEN, I hope to synthesize these influences, but mostly, to give form to this voice that says:

Truly, nothing is written.

[evakadlec]

At a certain point in my career, I switched, from an academic, theoretical tone in my work to comedy. Because I wanted people to understand wha the fuck I was actually saying, and what I ment in my work. I like the way that in comedy, if you can get somebody to laugh, you’re getting a real reaction out of them. People don’t think before they laugh, they just do it. And then, after they’re done laughing, they’re left to figure out why they laughed. They’re engaged - in a brief moment of self-reflection. And it’s that moment of self-reflection that I think a lot of art strives to create for viewers. But with comedy, they’re able to get there -rather get the viewer to that place - through happiness, instead of academic drudgery.

Brad Troemel, “The Shit I Wished Someone Told Me Before I Entered The Art World (The Cornell Talk, 2019)

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See You In Hell (Böse Blumen), 2021

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Down In Flames (Böse Blumen), 2021

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Climate Leviathan (Böse Blumen), 2021

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Detail (I am not asking anymore II),Böse Blumen, 2021

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Work In Progress

I am not asking anymore II (Böse Blumen), 2021

Watercolor on Paper

70 x 100 cm

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Das Streichholz (Böse Blumen), 2021

Eva Kadlec

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Steve McQueen comme un faune (2021)

Graphit, Watercolor on paper

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The Gun (Böse Blumen) , 2021

Watercolor on Paper

(sold)

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JSYK!

I have an Online shop now!

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Procurer des bonnes Vibes - Après Midi d'une faune (2020) - work in progress

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“I’M NOT ASKING ANYMORE ‘ Böse Blumen (2021), Eva Kadlec

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Studies, Böse Blumen (2021), Eva Kadlec

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Böse Blumen (2021), Eva Kadlec

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Böse Blumen (2021), Eva Kadlec