Gažovej: the ransomed paintings Event

exhibition by Gabriela Gažová
Studio Walls Vienna / finnisage 2.11. / 18:00
Löhrgasse 9,1160

The exhibition project Gažovej: the ransomed paintings presents a series of artifacts made, taken away from and reclaimed by the artist. In the current display the themes of ownership, authorship, author(ess)ship and power/gender dynamics are explored through the story of the stolen figural paintings and the reinterpretation of the newly signed artworks by Gabriela Gažová.

In 2020 the lost series of female nude paintings was accidentally found by their author Gabriela Gažová as they were displayed in the shopping window of a commercial gallery in Bratislava. The owner of the gallery had acquired the paintings suspiciously and was selling them as artworks by an Unknown Author (generic masculine). The stolen paintings were framed by the gallery, some cropped to remove Gažová’s signature, all sealed from the back to hide backside autograph - thus depriving the (female) artist of her authorship and name, and with that also of her gender identity.

The anonymous (anonymized) gaze perspective prompted the author to thematize the relevance of authors’ gender identities (especially in the genre of nude) and critically reflect on its decorative function.

The artist had ransomed the paintings and reclaimed them via interventions on the frames, returning her name to her paintings, working with the conjugations of her Slovak (gendered) surname, which in its genitive form Gažovej* directly refers to her authorship and ownership of the artworks.

*Gažovej [Slovak conjugation of the female surname Gažová (Nominativ)] Gažovej = belonging to Gažová / by Gažová / from Gažová / of Gažová / according to Gažová / because of Gažová / about Gažová / instead of Gažová
[Gažová (Nominativ) is a version of Gažova = of / by & belonging to Gažo (male version of the name in Nominativ)]