ALICA
30/05/2023 - 28/07/2023
Richter gallery
Rome
In recent years the artist has focused on environmental issues and the effects that has on people, intensive agriculture, industry global, politics. In the latter period his work has moved to personal, intimate subjects: his cat and himself. In this historical moment where the world is practically on fire and artists are trying to address current issues and social problems, such as political issues, identity, and climate crisis, Dubravsky prefers to deal with personal and private issues such as a person's relationship and an animal. Despite his will Dubravsky appears, in his self-portraits, anxious, while the painted cats are cheerful and this mixture creates a sort of ambiguity in the viewer. The exhibition entitled with the name of Dubravsky's cat, Alica, is a painful tribute, a farewell, to his cat who disappeared last September, and is still traumatic and tragic for the artist. The cat is a subject that returns very often in the history of art, from the ancient Egyptians to Renoir, from Da Vinci to Manet and Picasso, so also in this case, this new series of paintings arises from the artist's love of sharing with painting the joyful, intense and loving relationship with one's cats. This series of self-portraits with cats began with the outbreak of war in Ukraine, it is no coincidence, precisely because the artist (based in Bratislava) used paint and his pets in a therapeutic way, to calm hir spirits, lower anxiety levels and to start painting again.






















