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Communiqué: eva lapka For immediate release

LES SONGES 

From: May 14th to June 20th, 2015 | Opening : Wednesday May 13th, from 5 to 8 p.m.

Galerie Bernard is pleased to present a selection of Eva Lapka’s sculptures, within the exhibition LES SONGES.

The daring treatment of the stoneware, the ceramist’s privileged means of expression, as well as the rough and manhandled “facture” of the frequently torned material brings us into her unique world, where human shapes and abstraction closely live together. Those spectral silhouettes sway between lights and shadows, between the strength of the figures and the fragility of the medium.

If these artworks seem to come out of a dream, the sensitivity that emanates from them is truly perceptible. Representative of the traces of suffering and vitality that can habitat a body, those mineral coloured pieces recall suggestive and striking shapes.

In the artwork “Chuchotement” (2009), where lonesome heads seem to hold a conversation, the artist lets each spectator define what he sees: « I give each observer the freedom to guess their intentions. Is this whisper malicious, rude, despiteful and hostile, or is it innocent, tender, cheerful? Look at each face’s expression and imagine…» A silent dialogue settles between the individual and the sculpture, between those hands and heads, and the mysterious reflection that they send us back.

Eva Lapka knows how to bring depth to her work that reminds us of the essence of life, of its perpetual cycle and its immateriality. That universal side gives to her artwork that strength, that evocative power profoundly human.

Eva Lapka, Czech ceramist of international reputation, has a degree in sculpture and ceramic design from the School of Arts in Brno, Czechoslovakia. She teaches, since 1991, at the Visual Art Centre of Montréal, where she has been the Director of the ceramist department for fourteen (14) years. She has exhibited several times in Canada, United States and Europe, and her artworks are part of many collections. In January 2012, she was appointed Member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts. One of her works is presented in the latest edition of the book “500 Prints on Clay”, published in March 2013 by Lark Crafts Publishing, North Carolina, United States.