Olga Karlíková (1923-2004) was an exceptional personality in Czech art. She was not only a painter and award-winning textile designer, but also a ‘listener’ of life. Her visual renderings of birdsongs, frogs croaking or whales singing still fascinate the viewer through their refined and conceptual nature. From the end of the 1970s, she lived in seclusion in close contact with nature. Already then, she recognised and was deeply affected by the devastation of the planet and was interested in ecological issues. She traveled repeatedly to the sea, which provided her with inspiration and solace.

Olga Karlíková’s exhibition at hunt kastner focuses on this source of inspiration and presents the artist’s work in a series of selected paintings. This will be complemented by pictorial records of birdsongs, which Karlíková continuously devoted herself to from 1965 until her death. The aim of the exhibition is to commemorate the life and work of this unique artist, a signatory of Charter 77, and to present her lesser-known early and late works, whose environmental character resonates with the current crises of the contemporary world.

Curatorial text in Czech & English