digital prints

"I learned about the Para from my Slovak friends, I listen to their songs and I like the PARAgraphics project. I was happy when they invited me to this collaboration. I really appreciate being a part of it. I worked with a text about my hometown Kyiv. Now my country is going through a very difficult period and I ask that you always remember this and support Ukraine in our fight against evil and for freedom."

Oksana Sadovenko is an artist who comes from Kyiv (UA) and has been living and working in Bratislava for the last two years. She is a recent graduate of the Academy of Fine Arts. She is mostly engaged in painting, but she also works with sculpture and objects. She exhibits in Slovakia and abroad and her work is characterized by an expressive and intense approach. Personal, historical and cultural contexts intertwine in her large-format paintings. She pays the most attention to the image of a pigeon and creates her own phantasmagoric universes.

Why this verse?

"It carries a strong statement about the state of our society. I am dedicated to collective and personal memory, which I reflect through motifs of the urban and natural environment with an emphasis on the phenomenon of demolition of buildings or small architectural elements in public space, especially those that were created during the previous regime."

Natália Šimonová graduated from the AU in Banská Bystrica, where she is currently continuing her doctoral studies. In her work, she is dedicated to collective and personal memory, where she thematically depicts motifs of urban architecture and its structures, such as playgrounds from the times of socialism. She is dedicated to the so-called expanded painting that extends beyond the boundaries of the medium in the form of spatial installation. She uses combinations of classical and non-classical media, traditional and unconventional artistic techniques, and especially the rust that is characteristic for her work.

"I chose the verse 'We fly to the end of our sky, which resembles love' because it reminds me of beautiful moments - and there are never enough of them in life."

The Slovak artist studied painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Bratislava. In her work, she repeatedly thematizes the cycle of growth and decay in nature, through a layered tangle of media and means of expression. In a sense, she constantly escapes and returns to painting, which is her original background, although she increasingly penetrates space with her works. Without words, with intuitive and experimental methods, she tells a continuous story about the fragility of non-human actors: plants, insects and entire biotopes. 

"When creating the graphic design, it was interesting to transform the song and my experience of it into a visual narrative. The motif of time, remembrance and the strange, heavy atmosphere of the album 'For Everything Around Us' are also present in my work. The quote from the text that I used is very familiar at first hearing and resonated with me for a long time. Like a distant memory from childhood, it personifies the feeling of melancholy - sadness that does not hurt, only reminds of something."

Lucia Tallová graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Bratislava and is the laureate of several major awards. She presented her work at exhibitions at home and abroad. She participated in artist residencies in Paris, Vienna, Brazil and California. In her work, she is inspired by the environment that surrounds her, relationships and their connection with the past. The main theme is memory, the preservation and disappearance of memories and their transformation or manipulation in the context of time. She combines the classic medium of painting with spatial installations, object creation and photography.

"As someone who literally makes a living designing words and writing, I jumped at this verse without thinking. Para's lyrics seem abstract, but at the same time they are full of meaning, open to interpretation. That is why I decided not to illustrate this verse in my graphics and I only rendered it in the form of a typographic sampler, where the words simply exist." (Ondrej Jób)

Ondrej Jób is a typeface designer currently living in Bratislava. He studied visual communication at the Academy of Fine Arts in Bratislava and Type and Media typeface design at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts (KABK) in the Netherlands. His main activities include the creation of commercial fonts as well as custom fonts, branding and lettering. He is also involved in research projects and software development in the field of typeface design and typography.

Graphics based on the lyrics of the song by PARA. After studying political science in Bratislava, the author Martina Pauková moved to London, where she discovered a completely different talent. While working at Starbucks, she began studying graphic design and, at the same time, producing her own flattened illustrations - first for smaller magazines, for which she illustrated editorials, and gradually for larger and larger names. Her most prestigious clients include Apple, CNN, Google, Forbes Japan, The New York Times, Washington Post, Kickstarter, Guardian Newspaper, The Economist and Converse. Her vector illustrations deal with topics such as the home, office, interior, work life, technology and relationships. She currently lives and works in Berlin.

Daniela Olejníková is participating in the PARAgraphics project for the second time. Daniela focuses on graphics and book illustration. Although she often works digitally, she draws on her experience with analog printing – especially with linocut and screen printing. She is interested in various imperfections, rasters, layering and shifts of colour surfaces – and likes to leave room for them in her graphics. She has illustrated almost 20 books for domestic and foreign publishers, has worked for, for example, Denník N, KPMG, the Presidential Office, Usbek&Rica, the Czech Philharmonic, and has been collaborating with Čierne Diery for a long time.

“We need to help each other and think about the last one standing too,” says Erik about the choice of text, to which he gave his original visual form. Erik Šille drew attention to himself during his studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Bratislava, when a strong “acrylic generation” of painters was emerging. Šille, although he belongs to its prominent representatives, has his typical distinct handwriting and style that is continuously cultivated, developed and enriched with new elements and characters. Perhaps the most typical is the elaborate characterisation, which uses the form, charm and ambiguity of the animated world and comic book characters.

"The Para band and their music have been with me since high school and I associate them with every summer festival. The verse from this song seemed strong and poetic to me and I immediately started visualizing it. I draw what I hear. :) I recommend hanging the graphics above the bed and get carried away." (Miša Chmelíčková)

Michaela is a graphic designer and illustrator. She graduated from the Department of Visual Communication at the Academy of Fine Arts in Bratislava. She works in various forms of graphic design - visual identity for brands, events and festivals or advertising illustration. Her approach is characterized by strong stylization, she likes minimalism and geometry. She also works as an author and transforms her illustrations into prints and T-shirts under the brand Planet 220.

The CISAROVE project was created as a graphic creation of city fragments based on the visual principles of Bauhaus, Suprematism or Constructivism, where basic geometric shapes such as a square, circle or line are given the main word. The main graphic criteria are internal logic and order which are defined by a grid in the ratio of 40 x 60. The graphic is signed and numbered, limited to 25 pieces.

Types of Hug is a unique print illustration of original artwork created by Zuzu Galova. The artwork is inspired by the sweetness of the hug of loved ones.

Archival print of an original work by Žužu Gálová. It will bring a touch of creativity and elegance to every space. The piece is dedicated to celebrating living life by your own rules, finding courage, comfort in discomfort and the confidence to do whatever you want. Each print is signed by the author.