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December 4th, 2008
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Full exposure

A revealing journey to the kingdom of self-discovery
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By Tony Ozuna
For The Prague Post
November 26th, 2008 issue

COURTESY PHOTO
The title series of the exhibit shows the artist in a variety of landscapes, usually with multiple personas.
Veronika Bromová: Kingdoms


at Prague City Gallery at House
at the Stone Bell Ends Jan. 11, 2009. Staroměstské nám. 13, Prague 1-Old Town. Open Tues.-Sun. 10 a.m.-6 p.m.

In the early 1980s, Czech photographer Jan Saudek took a series of nude photos of two preteen sisters that are among his best-known works to this day, becoming the first to expose the young Veronika Bromová to the public.
In “Kingdoms,” Bromová’s retrospective at the House at the Stone Bell, the artist is showing photographs, videos and kinetic sculptures made from the mid-1990s to 2005 in which she continually exposes herself, often nude, with the innocence of the Saudek era gone.
In the gallery’s foyer is a photo titled Golden Age, which shows Bromová with golden skin and hair, snarling, with a crazed look in her eyes. Then, at the entrance to the show, viewers are greeted by kinetic sculptures that resemble the hippopotamus-like cartoon characters the Moomins, waving their arms and heads, with slogans on their chests like “Love is all around” and “Happiness is me.” Behind the figures is a photo of a little girl lying on the lawn with trash around her head. There is also trash scattered on the artificial turf beneath the happy-looking kinetic figures.
Perhaps it’s because of her early experiences modeling for Saudek that there is a sentimental theme of loss of innocence apparent in much of Bromová’s work. However, some of her best-known works are charged with restless sexual energy or erotic playfulness, in both cases held in check by benign forces of nature.
The first floor of the exhibition contains some of Bromová’s computer-manipulated photos from the 1990s that were most inspiring for Czech feminists. Works from her “Beings” series (1997) include a self-portrait that looks like a modern Golem with electrified eyes, with the skin folds of her belly crunched to create a second “face.” Here we also see one of her best-known works, from the “Views” series (1996), showing the nude artist lying on her back with her legs spread wide and a section of flesh cut away to reveal the muscles, fat, veins and nerves beneath the skin.
In the series “Kingdoms” (2003–05), from which the exhibition takes its name, Bromová stands, often in multiple, in various landscapes, from a desert moonscape to Czech farmland, always with her face front and center and her mouth wide open.
There are a few nonphotographic works as well, such as Cocoon from the “Beauty and the Beast” series (1997), which is a huge, suspended undulating wormlike creature covered with peach-colored feathers. Upstairs, Bromová is exhibiting another kinetic sculpture, Singles, which has the color and shape of an extra-long hotdog, laced up and suspended vertically and wriggling slowly in spasmodic jerks.
There are also selections from her “Zemzoo” project (1998) shot in New York City, which represented the Czech Republic in the 1999 Venice Biennale. A video cuts from polar bears swimming in a pool at the Central Park Zoo to New York City street scenes to Bromová taking a shower, periodically shoving her body up against the shower’s glass door. There are also large photos of a naked Bromová with her body tightly wrapped with cellophane tape to create bulges of flesh. She deforms her image further by photographing her bound body against a backdrop of aluminum foil, creating a horrific house-of-mirrors effect.
Another video-photo installation made in New York City during the same period, titled “Parts of Me, Parts of NYC,” features a video of a scantily dressed Bromová doing a performance with Chinese takeout food. There are also split-scene photos contrasting views of New York with portraits of the artist, generally contrasting the calm or breathtaking with the sexually deranged.
Her “Kingdoms” series is spread throughout the exhibition, showing Bromová multiplied by two or more and looking her best in wild, long black hair. These works give the impression of a sisterhood or tribe of wild women, running naked down dirt paths, following a demon dog into a thick forest, jumping from trees, wearing cheap golden crowns on their heads or standing around like a band of bored Eves, picking apples in their own private Garden of Eden.
Bromová’s newer works in the show include the series “Autobiograf” (2003), in which she portrays herself looking extremely bored in an upscale gallery space — another form of self-exposure. There are also eerie night images that show Bromová fearlessly confronting a ghostly, faceless figure that’s beaming a golden glow from beneath its black cape.
In the final room of the show, the video The Journey There (2004) is a driving sequence through a rundown Czech village. The narration, playing in English, discusses strife, blessings and emancipation, as well as the meaninglessness of life. At one point the driver pulls out a map to figure out where to go next, or simply where to go at all. The car moves on to a bumpy, muddy unpaved road, and the narration continues with a cynical laugh, talking about the “ultimate trip,” slipping into darkness or the unknown.
The point seems to be that the artist has so far shown no fear of taking risks, including exposing herself to the core. From here, she can go anywhere she wants.

Tony Ozuna can be reached at features@praguepost.com


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