represent

Lenka’s lovely mosaics

Self-Portrait, Lenka Brazinova, mosaic

When we became friends in London, at the Persona Art Festival, where we were both showing work, my nickname for Lenka Brazinova was Lovely Lenka. I hadn’t heard from her in well over a year, yet she submitted a comment to represent yesterday, and suddenly I had a chance to catch up with what she’s been doing the past couple years. Despite the struggles she has gone through, and she’s been through many, her cheerfulness and her playful personality tend to light up the room–you can feel it even in her emails–so it was a treat to hear from her and great to know that she’s happy and productive. She’s deeply serious about her work, and she’s painting full-time right now, to the exclusion of any concern about money, and any other kind of work. She lives in Kosice, Slovakia, not far from the Ukrainian border and  hopes to move to London soon and  enroll at the Slade School of Fine Art. The word lovely applies just as much to her work in mosaics, a few examples of which are on view at her website. I’m fascinated by how the requirements of mosaic force her to refine her images until they’re about as simple as a Matisse cutout and how the medium itself creates intensities of color that rival oil. I’m hoping she will do lots more of these. And the examples of her work with mosaics in collaboration with street artists are very cool. Bravo, Brazinova. Stay in touch.