Marek Schovanek

If identity is a simulated unification of images, the hybrid imagery that Marek Schovánek presents in his shows challenges any restricted views on our vocabulary for self-expression.  One of his exhibition titles, Fragmentation, itself underlines how discontinuities supersede coherence, becoming the unstable but necessary platform for a relentless movement where the part rules over the whole and identities recognise themselves as fragments. 
 
Schovánek’s installations, paintings and objects offer a positive view on a contemporary Tower of Babel, telling us many stories at once.  As if reflecting on his own personal history: his roots in Czechoslovakia, his training in Canada and his current work experience in Europe, his art functions as an uneasy map for understanding those artists that cross borders, enrich artistic alphabets and question the idea of purity, be it in art or identity. 
 
Gabriel  Araujo
Cultural Relations Officer
Canadian High Commision in London
Political Affairs & Public Diplomacy Division