Pablo Picasso once said, “There is no abstract art. You must always start with something. Afterward you can remove all traces of reality.” And while art has evolved dramatically, the classic fundamental of anatomy remains the same. Czech sculptor Monika Horčicová creates ornate installations with polyester resin skeletons as her medium. Some might call her work morbid, others a beautiful reimagining and application of the human form. Her technique requires a keen understanding of anatomy before she can manipulate it- and her work is not just an abstraction. She’s walking a line between natural construction and purely artistic expression.
Some of her sculptures look like they could move correctly; expanding spheres, ornate wheels and barrels made of femurs, and so on. Other works are strangely emotional, as in her “Cycle of Communication” series, where 3 fused-skeletons huddle together as if for comfort. In their companion piece, torsos connected at the shoulder form a circle, the symbol of a common center and meaning. There are a thousand ways her works could be interpreted but each has something in common. We are looking at bare ‘bones’ bereft of a soul, yet Horčicová has created something very much alive.
