Veronika Psotková

acad. sculptor
Veronika Psotková
Psotková in 2019
Born (1981-10-17) 17 October 1981
Opava, Czechoslovakia
EducationPalacký University Olomouc, Brno University of Technology
Known forsculptor
AwardsPublikumspreis Nordart 2021
BIG SEE Architecture Award 2024
Websiteveronikapsotkova.net

Veronika Kudláčková Psotková (born 17 October 1981) is Czech sculptor and creator of monumental spatial installations.

Life

Veronika Psotková was born on 17 October 1981 in Opava. She graduated from Mendel High School in Opava in 2001 and attended a public art school. From 2001 to 2006, she studied art teaching and mathematics for secondary education at the Faculty of Education, Palacký University Olomouc. During her final year, she also studied sculpture at Faculty of Fine Arts, Brno University of Technology in the sculpture studio of Michal Gabriel. While still a student , she held her first solo exhibition in 2006 and also participated in group exhibitions. Her 2009 thesis project, Grandfather's Garden — a series of 28 figures, won the Dean's Award and was exhibited at the DOX Gallery in Prague.[1]

She has been actively practicing sports since her youth, focusing on swimming and playing basketball, volleyball, and beach volleyball, and this experience has also influenced the themes of her sculptures.[2] Since completing her college studies, she has been a free-lance sculptor.

In 2021, the renovation of St. Joseph's Chapel in Slavětín, designed by the Tsunami architectural studio[3] and featuring an altar designed by Psotková, received an honorable mention in the “2021 Building of the Year in the Hradec Králové Region” competition. In 2024, her design for the Slavětín church won the category for public, cultural, and infrastructure buildings and received the BIG SEE Architecture Award in Slovenia[4]. In 2021, she also received the Public Choice Award at the Nord Art International exhibition in Büdelsdorf (Schleswig-Holstein).[5] In 2025 she prepared multifigured composition for the Church of Santa Maria della Visitazione in Venice.

Since 2010, she has lived with her husband and two daughters in Obora near Louny, where she has a studio.

Awards

  • 2009 Dean's Award for Thesis, Faculty of Architecture and Design, Brno University of Technology
  • 2021 Building of the Year 2021, Hradec Králové Region, “Honorable Mention”
  • 2021 Publikumspreis 2021, Nordart 2021, Büdelsdorf, Germany
  • 2024 BIG SEE Architecture Award 2024. Winner in the category of public, cultural, and infrastructure buildings, Slovenia – for the conversion of St. Joseph's Chapel in Slavětín

Work

Since the beginning of her career, Psotková has focused primarily on figurative art and themes such as the aesthetics of the body and the boundaries of intimacy (Time I and II, 2021). Her work draws on classical sculpture influenced by contemporary pop culture.[6] In her interpretation, so-called gender themes take on a playful or exaggerated quality and are characterized by a light touch of irony.[7] An important theme for her is sports and free movement liberated from gravity, as seen in her "flying dreams". She reflects on situations she experiences, and as a young mother, she also explores the themes of motherhood[8], closeness to children, and creating a sense of security.[9] Separately, she also exhibits sketches and digital graphics, which serve as visualizations of her sculptural installations. The works from 2016–2019 consist primarily of reflections on the life of a woman and mother, which served as the basis for her later sculptural installations Euphoria, Connection, In Space, and Mom's Coffee.[10]

Her realistic sculptural work in plaster, artificial stone made of Roman cement, acrylic, and bronze, she devoted herself to mainly during her studies, is very time-consuming. In an effort to lighten the form and speed up the process, she chose wire mesh on a wire frame as her material in 2007. She later discovered that it is possible to shape sculptures from wire mesh without a supporting structure onto which to mold the sculpture; instead, she cuts, shapes, and sews the wire mesh directly into "shells" — three-dimensional "drawings". The framework, which she later removes, is needed only for larger objects.[11]

She allows her sculptures made of wire mesh to develop a natural rust patina, or she repaints them and seals the finish with varnish. For outdoor sculptures, she also uses hot-dip galvanized wire mesh (Latte and Cheesecake, Kampa, Prague, 2023). While the final appearance of the outdoor sculptures is shaped by the weather and the gradual rusting of the material (Bikini Club, DOX, 2012), indoor installations offer the opportunity to work with the specific architecture of the space, to experiment, and to make creative use of colored lighting,[12] which sometimes emphasizes the sculpture's volume or reveals it as a spatial drawing when viewed through.[1][9] The lightness of the material allows her to create generously shaped, often larger-than-life figures that hang freely in space (17 figures of Aquabelles for the Forum Shopping Center in Liberec, 2016).[13]

Psotková's sculptures are often created as site-specific to fit a specific location and frequently respond to existing architecture or the genius loci. At the same time, they reflect personal emotions and events, which she gives tangible form through her sculptures. As she comments: Through the gradual blending of themes and visual ideas and their refinement, I have created for myself a simple personal glossary, a concise guide for everyday life, for a complex world in which routine certainties have turned into shifting ground beneath my feet. For me, the sculptures become illustrations of this guide.[14]

The Dive-in sculpture group was created during the COVID-19 pandemic, with figures floating in the space of a vault on the Prague waterfront, separated from passersby by glass.[15] She was deeply affected by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and working on the sculpture — her first politically engaged piece — helped her overcome her initial feelings of paralysis and helplessness.[16] In 2022, she created a sculpture titled Vinok, which hangs above Dlouhá Street near the NoD Gallery in Prague. It depicts a young woman wearing a wreath (vinok) shaped like the rising sun. Vinok is a Ukrainian symbol of the worship of Mother Earth and has also come to represent glory, victory, happiness, success, peace, chastity, youth, and femininity.[17] The author symbolically dedicated it to all mothers in the war in Ukraine.[8]

Another work with a socially critical message is Pillar of Society (2024), a site-specific installation that calls for a sense of community in the face of individualism, loneliness, and indifference. It is accompanied by the sculptures Lazy Skin, which reflect a feeling of emptiness and merging with the surface, the inability to get up, burnout, and acceptance of one's own condition. Her other work - A Better Perspective, explores the search for perspective and outlook in a confusing space and context.[18]

In 2025, she installed the monumental sculpture group Perpetuo in the Church of Santa Maria della Visitazione in Venice. The sculpture, consisting of thirty larger-than-life figures and torsos standing 6 meters tall, created from 1.5 km of wire mesh, weighs 4.5 metric tons including its supporting structure.[19] It is her most extensive exhibition abroad to date.[20] Psotková conceived it as a symbolic loop of scenes from social media (scrolling)[21], reflections of our selves and our carefully cultivated virtual identities. Visitors can enter the installation, contribute to it with their own bodies, document it, and post it on social media. The installation seamlessly explores the concept of identity, which is fleeting and may not correspond to reality at all.[22]

Psotková, together with her husband Roman Kudláček, is the creator of a new exhibition at the Mattoni Museum in Kyselka.[23] She also created a replica of the statue of Heinrich Kaspar von Mattoni for Kyselka, made of hardened and patinated acrylic.

Realizations

  • 2010–2020 Aquabelles, 17 wire-frame female figures at the Forum shopping center in Liberec
  • 2010 Nine sculptures on the water cascade at Old Town Square in Mladá Boleslav[24]
  • 2012 Sculpture group entitled On the Wall, garden of the Depo restaurant, Český Krumlov
  • 2012 Rübezahl, Fries mountain hut complex, Strážné in the Giant Mountains
  • 2012–2014 Statues of Bedřich Smetana, Ctirad, and Šárka at the recreational area in Mladá Boleslav
  • 2013 Copy of statue of Heinrich Kaspar von Mattoni in Kyselka[25][26]
  • 2016 Gymnasts, wire figures on the facade of the Sokol Hall in Litvínov
  • 2020 Sculptures for Šatlava at the Žlutice Museum
  • 2020 Altar of St. Joseph, a figural sculpture group depicting St. Joseph with Mary, the Infant Jesus, and angels, in the deconsecrated Church of St. Joseph, Slavětín near Trutnov.[27][28]
  • 2022 Vinok, Dlouhá Street, Prague[29][30]
  • 2023 Latte and Cheesecake, Kampa Island, Prague
  • 2024 Ride, Roundabout in Trutnov[31][32]
  • 2024 A Place in the Heart – Forest Cemetery memorial site, Písek
  • 2025 Digital Swimmers, ESMO public foyer, Žilina

Exhibitions (selection)

Solo

  • 2006 Veronika Psotková: Sochy / Sculptures, Town Museum, Rýmařov
  • 2007 Veronika Psotková: Průzkumnice / The Explorer, House of Arts, Opava
  • 2009 Veronika Psotková: Dědova zahrada / Grandpa's Garden, DOX, Centrum současného umění / Centre for Contemporary Art, Prague
  • 2009 Inventura – Veronika Psotková a hosté / Inventory – Veronika Psotková and Guests, Aula VUT Brno[33]
  • 2010 Veronika Psotková: Uzavřená společnost / Private Party, Radniční sklípek Gallery, Litvínov
  • 2012 Veronika Psotková: Bikiny klub / Bikini Club, DOX, Centrum současného umění / Centre for Contemporary Art, Prague
  • 2012 Veronika Psotková: Classic@., Municipal House, Opava[34]
  • 2013 Veronika Psotková: Bikini Club/ Sauna, (A)VOID Floating Gallery, Prague
  • 2013 Bikini klubben och Bastu, Härjedalens kulturcentrum, Lillhärdal, Sweden[35]
  • 2013 Veronika Psotková: Bikini, Koktebel Jazz Festival, Koktebel/Crimea/Ukraine
  • 2014 Veronika Psotková: Akvárium / Aquarium, The Town Hall Cellar Gallery, Litvínov[36]
  • 2015 Veronika Psotková: 500 m² rabicovej sietě / 500 m² of wire nettig mesh, Budatín Castle, Žilina, Slovakia
  • 2015 Veronika Psotková: Velké prádlo, Polštáře / Big Laundry, Pillars, New Town Hall, Prague[37]
  • 2015 Veronika Psotková: Akvabely / Aquabelles, installation under the bridge on Rašínovo Embankment – (A)VOID Gallery, Prague
  • 2017 Veronika Psotková: Bikini Club, Castle Litvínov[38]
  • 2018 Veronika Psotková: Solitéry / Standalone Pieces, Hotel Rott, Prague
  • 2018/2019 Veronika Psotková: Napojení / Connection, Lower Vítkovice, Ostrava, Sculptures in the City, Town Gallery Trutnov[39]
  • 2019 Veronika Psotková: DOMA / At home, Municipal House Gallery, Opava[40]
  • 2019 Veronika Psotková: Klenot I / Jewel I, Muzeum papírových modelů / Museum of Paper Models, Police nad Metují[41]
  • 2019/2020 Veronika Psotková: Spolu / Together, DOX, Centrum současného umění / Centre for Contemporary Art, Praha[42][43]
  • 2021 Veronika Psotková: Esence / Essence, Gallery of Fine Arts in Náchod[44][45]
  • 2021 Veronika Psotková: Drátěné sochy / Wire Sculptures, Art Gallery (Světlana & Luboš Jelínek), Chrudim[46]
  • 2021 Veronika Psotková: Dive-in, (A)VOID Gallery, a vault on the Prague riverfront[47]
  • 2022 Veronika Psotková: Himmel und Erde (+Angelika Summa), Garten Pristine, Hanover, Germany
  • 2022 Veronika Psotková: Grácie / Graces, Chapel Gallery, Valašské Meziříčí[48]
  • 2022 Veronika Psotková: Holky z kruhu / Girls from the Circle, DON Tábor[49]
  • 2023 Veronika Psotková: Dive-In/ End of the Tunnel, Machine Room, EPO1 Center for Contemporary Art, Trutnov
  • 2023 Veronika Psotková: Kůže líná / Lazy Skin, Cultural Center Liberec-Vratislavice nad Nisou
  • 2022/2023 Veronika Psotková: Vinok, Roxy/NoD, crossroads Dlouhá – Rybná, Prague 1
  • 2024 Veronika Psotková: Beze strachu / Without Fear, culture center KKCG Artium, Prague 6[50]
  • 2025 Liberata, Stage Garden, Rožnov pod Radhoštěm
  • 2025/2026 Veronika Psotková: Swimmers, The Dancing House, Sculpture Line, Prague
  • 2025 PERPETUO, Chiesa di Santa Maria della Visitazione, Venice
  • 2026 Sochy na hradě IV / Sculptures at the Castle IV -Veronika Psotková, Brno City Museum - Špilberk[51]

Collective (selection)

  • 2006 Figurama 06, Bratislava, Plzeň, Znojmo, Ostrava
  • 2006 Posluchači ateliéru sochařství Michala Gabriela / Students in Michal Gabriel's sculpture studio, Doubner Gallery, Prague
  • 2008 Hloubka a cit / Depth and Sensitivity, Castle Gallery, Uherský Ostroh
  • 2008 Třeskutý testosteron / Explosive Testosterone, Mázhaus Gallery, Pardubice
  • 2009 Figurama 09, Zlín, Poznań, České Budějovice, Brussels, Old Town Hall Prague
  • 2009/2010 Dívčí sen 2009 Testosteron/ Girl´s Dream 2009: Testosterone, Regional Gallery of the Highlands Jihlava, Reduta Theatre, Brno, Synagogue Gallery, Hranice, Michal Mine, Michálkovice, Ostrava
  • 2009 Pygmalionka a Narcis – fotograficko-sochařské projekty Veroniky Psotkové a Miroslava Jiřeleho / Pygmalion and Narcis – Photography and Sculpture Projects by Veronika Psotková and Miroslav Jiřele, Doma Gallery, Kyjov
  • 2009 Doxnano!, DOX, Centrum současného umění / Centre for Contemporary Art, Prague
  • 2009 Practical Theses by 2009 Graduates of the Faculty of Fine Arts, Brno University of Technology, Aula Gallery of the Faculty of Fine Arts, Brno
  • 2009 Eastnano!, Faculty of Chemical Technology, Pardubice University
  • 2010 AS1: Práce studentů, absolventů a pedagogů Ateliéru sochařství 1 / Works by Students, Graduates, and Teachers of the Sculpture Studio 1, FaVU VUT Brno, DOX, Centrum současného umění / Centre for Contemporary Art, Prague
  • 2011 Sochy v zahradě II / Sculptures in the garden II, Kroměříž
  • 2012 Sochy v zahradě III / Sculptures in the garden III, Kroměříž
  • 2014 Umění ve městě / Art in the City 2014, České Budějovice
  • 2015 Umění ve městě / Art in the City 2015, České Budějovice
  • 2016 Umění ve městě / Art in the City 2016, České Budějovice
  • 2017 Umění ve městě / Art in the City 2017, České Budějovice
  • 2025 Němá tvář / The Silent Face, Regional Gallery of Fine Arts in Zlín

References

  1. 1 2 >výstava sochařky Veroniky Psotkové s názvem Spolu / an exhibition by sculptor Veronika Psotková titled “Together”, DOX Prague, 2019
  2. ↑ Fascinuje mě elegance pohybu, říká Veronika Psotková / “I am fascinated by the elegance of movement,” says Veronika Psotková, Sport in Art, 26.07.2022
  3. ↑ Kaple sv. Josefa, Slavětín / St. Joseph's Chapel in Slavětín, Tsunami
  4. ↑ BIG SEE Architecture Award 2024 Winner
  5. ↑ Veronika Psotková – Publikumspreis 2021 • Public Choice Award 2021
  6. ↑ Festival Světel Valašsko: Veronika Psotková, Dostatečný nadhled / Wallachia Festival of Lights: Veronika Psotková, “A Sufficient Perspective”, 2022
  7. ↑ Krajčíková A, 2024, p. 4
  8. 1 2 Natálie Fosterová, Dox představuje sochy Veroniky Psotkové, Praha TV, 2019
  9. 1 2 Natálie Fosterová, Dox představuje sochy Veroniky Psotkové / Dox Presents Sculptures by Veronika Psotková, Praha TV, 2019
  10. ↑ Veronika Psotková, autorské grafiky a objekty / original prints, and objects, Dvoreček Gallery, Dýšina, 2021
  11. ↑ Spojenci Veroniky Psotkové, Tišnovské noviny, 2020
  12. ↑ Veronika Psotková, Artikl 7, 2023
  13. ↑ Akvabely, OC Forum v Liberci, 2016
  14. ↑ Veronika Psotková — Grácie / Graces, MGC Valašské Meziříčí
  15. ↑ Živá výstava během lockdownu: Jedna kobka na pražské Náplavce plave / A Live Exhibition During Lockdown: A Single Cell on Prague's Waterfront Is Floating, Nová Večerní Praha, 2021
  16. ↑ Jana Pšeničková, Sochařka spletla dívku z drátů, která oslavuje Ukrajinu / A sculptor created a wire sculpture of a girl celebrating Ukraine, Forbes 2022
  17. ↑ Veronika Psotková: Vinok, NoD, Praha 2022/2023
  18. ↑ Krajčíková A, Beze strachu / No Fear (Veronika Psotková), 2024
  19. ↑ Viktorie Melicharová, České umění v srdci Benátek: když se kostel promění v galerii i koncertní síň / Czech Art in the Heart of Venice: When a Church Becomes Both a Gallery and a Concert Hall, Forbes, 19.9.2025
  20. ↑ Linda K. Sedláková, in: Marie Bordier, Průsvitné, přitom monumentální. Sochařka Psotková vystavuje v Benátkách drátěné figury / Translucent, yet monumental. Sculptor Psotková is exhibiting wire figures in Venice, Publico, 13.5.2025
  21. ↑ Kateřina Kadlecová, "Co to tady visí za železo?" Sochařka Veronika Psotková radí: Dotkněte se, vstupte a pošlete to dál / “What's That Iron Thing Hanging Here?” Sculptor Veronika Psotková advises: Touch it, step inside, and share it, Reflex, July 23, 2025
  22. ↑ Eva Slunečková: Veronika Psotková: Ach, ta věčná touha po dokonalosti / Oh, that eternal desire for perfection, Elle 28.9.2025
  23. ↑ Vladimír Meluzín, Mattoni muzeum otevřelo novou expozici. Ukáže, jak se dříve stáčela minerálka / The Mattoni Museum has opened a new exhibit. It shows how mineral water used to be bottled., Deník.cz, 2018
  24. ↑ Drobné památky: Kašna Jizera na Staroměstském náměstí v Mladé Boleslavi
  25. ↑ Mattoniho socha opět stojí v Kyselce, symbolizuje začátek její proměny / Mattoni’s statue stands once again in Kyselka, symbolizing the beginning of its transformation, Czech TV 24, 2013
  26. ↑ Do parku v Kyselce se vrátila socha zakladatele lázní Mattoniho / The statue of Mattoni, the spa’s founder, has returned to the park in Kyselka, ČRo Karlovy Vary, 2013
  27. ↑ Oltář kostela ve Slavětíně zdobí 24 figur / The altar of the church in Slavětín is adorned with 24 figures
  28. ↑ Kaple sv. Josefa Slavětín / Church of St. Joseph, Ateliér Tsunami
  29. ↑ Veronika Psotková: Vinok
  30. ↑ Sochařka spletla dívku z drátů, která oslavuje Ukrajinu. Zavěsila ji nad hlavy Pražanů / A sculptor created a wire sculpture of a girl celebrating Ukraine. She hung it above the heads of Prague residents, Forbes
  31. ↑ Obří kola a kousek horské krajiny. Sousoší v Trutnově se líbí i provokuje / Giant wheels and a slice of mountain scenery. The sculpture in Trutnov both delights and provokes
  32. ↑ Jízda – sochy kol na kruhovém objezdu v Trutnově / Ride – Bicycle Sculptures at the Roundabout in Trutnov
  33. ↑ Inventura - Veronika Psotková a hosté, 2009
  34. ↑ Veronika Psotková: Dlouhodobě se zabývám estetikou těla / I have long been interested in the aesthetics of the body, Opavský a hlučínský deník, 2012
  35. ↑ Veronika Psotková, Process, Avesta Art 2014, pp. 24–25
  36. ↑ Veronika Psotková: Akvárium, Galerie Radniční sklípek, Litvínov, 2014
  37. ↑ "Veronika Psotková: Velké prádlo, MČ Praha 2, 2015". Archived from the original on 2024-01-11. Retrieved 2024-08-17.
  38. ↑ Edvard D. Beneš, Drátěné sochy v bikinách relaxují na nádvoří litvínovského zámku / Wire sculptures in bikinis are relaxing in the courtyard of Litvínov Castle, Mostecký deník, 2017
  39. ↑ Veronika Psotková: Napojení, GmT 2019
  40. ↑ Veronika Psotková: DOMA, Krajské listy, 2019
  41. ↑ Veronika Psotková: Klenot I, MPM Police nad Metují
  42. ↑ Veronika Psotková: Spolu, DOX 2019/2020
  43. ↑ Art Map: Veronika Psotková – Spolu, 2019/2020
  44. ↑ Veronika Psotková: Esence, Galerie výtvarného umění v Náchodě, 2021
  45. ↑ Jiří Špreňar, Sochařka Psotková svou site-specific instalací Esence zkoumá základ svého bytí / With her site-specific installation Essence, sculptor Psotková explores the essence of her being, Náchodský deník, 2021
  46. ↑ Galerie Art, Chrudim: Veronika Psotková, Drátěné sochy
  47. ↑ Kobka na pražské náplavce v noci ožívá. Výstava drátěných figur vynikne nejlépe za tmy / The vault on Prague's riverfront comes alive at night. The exhibition of wire figures stands out best in the dark, 2021
  48. ↑ Veronika Psotková: Grácie, Galerie Kaple, 2022
  49. ↑ Veronika Psotková: Holky z kruhu, DON Tábor, 2022
  50. ↑ Veronika Psotková vystavuje na Bořislavce, i-Journal 19.1.2024
  51. ↑ Sochy na hradě IV – Veronika Psotková, IUmění, 25.5.2026

Sources

Catalogues

  • Veronika Psotková: Esence (Umělci do 40 let) / Essence (Artists Under 40), Náchod Gallery of Fine Arts 2021, ISBN 978-80-88341-08-6
  • Alžběta Krajčíková, Beze strachu / No Fear (Veronika Psotková), KKCG, Prague 2024

Exhibition catalogues

  • Figurama 06, 351 p., KANT Publishing (Karel Kerlický), Prague 2006, ISBN 80-86970-08-6
  • 15 let FaVU VUT v Brně / 15 years of FaVU VUT in Brno, 229 p., VUTIUM Publishing House, Brno 2008, ISBN 978-80-214-3633-6
  • Dívčí sen 2009 (Testosteron) / A Girl's Dream 2009 (Testosterone), text Barbora Lungová, Uff!Art Civic Association 2009, ISBN 978-80-254-5545-6
  • Figurama 09, 528 p., Růžolící Chrochtík (publishing house), Prague 2009, ISBN 80-903346-6-0
  • Nanoscope (An interdisciplinary project connecting art, science, and technology), 2009
  • Výstava praktických diplomových prací 2009 / The Graduates Exhibition 2009, text Kaliopi Chamonikola, Faculty of Fine Arts, Brno University of Technology 2009, ISBN 978-80-214-3918-4
  • AS1 - Exhibition by the Sculpture 1 Studio at the Faculty of Fine Arts, Brno University of Technology, text Michal Gabriel, 2010
  • 10 let Umění ve městě / 10 Years of “Art in the City”, Flera ltd., Prague 2017, ISBN 978-80-270-1911-3
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