English
Deutsch
until 12.07. | #4707ARTatBerlin | Galerie Esther Schipper shows from 13. June 2025 the solo exhibition “Out of the Blue” by the artist Roman Ondak.
Esther Schipper presents Out of the Blue, Roman Ondak’s second solo exhibition with the gallery. The presentation features sculptures and photographic works with various interventions.
The exhibition centers around the color blue, which is historically associated with melancholy, and includes works that reference personal moments, memories, and historical contexts. Each work incorporates different shades of blue.
One of the works on view is Crossword I (2025), the first in a new series. It features a reprinted archival photograph over which the artist has painted a light blue crossword puzzle. The image depicts a quarry and comes from the archives of a company where Ondak’s father once worked. The crossword puzzle, originating from the post-World War II era, includes elements of socialist propaganda, linking personal and national history.
Maja in Blue (2025) is based on a 1998 photograph of the artist’s wife. It shows a woman in a small bathtub, her body submerged beneath the water. The blue tones dominate the composition, and the close framing, along with the grid of surrounding tiles, creates a contained and enclosed atmosphere.
Memoirs (2023) consists of a sealed glass container filled with dark blue liquid identified as pen ink. The familiar material evokes themes of writing, memory, and the passage of lived experience.
Two early works, His Eyes Peer into the Gloom II (1994) and Sea in my Room (1997), explore themes of perception. The former features a wall-mounted blue Plexiglas panel perforated in a triangular shape, with a yellow background area that suggests a beam of light. The latter presents a close-up of textured glass illuminated to resemble a body of water.
Melancholia (2025) is a sculpture made from a sphere and linear elements, forming an abstract seated figure. Conceptually, it relates to the artist’s previous series referencing the satellite Sputnik 1, using found materials and circular forms. The work engages with ideas of history and unfulfilled aspirations, echoing motifs found in earlier projects.
Roman Ondak (b. 1966, Žilina, Slovakia) studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Bratislava and Slippery Rock University in Pennsylvania. He lives and works in Bratislava. Ondak represented Slovakia at the 53rd Venice Biennale in 2009, participated in dOCUMENTA 13 in 2012, and was named Deutsche Bank Artist of the Year that same year. In 2018, he received the Lovis-Corinth Prize.
Recent solo exhibitions include: Roman Ondak: Infinitum (Fundació Tàpies, Barcelona, 2023); Measuring the Universe (Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich, 2022); SK Parking (Kunsthalle Bratislava, 2021); The Source of Art is in the Life of a People (South London Gallery, London, 2016); Escena (Museo Reina Sofía, Madrid, 2013); and Measuring the Universe (MoMA, New York; DAAD Galerie, Berlin; Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, 2008–2010), among others.
Opening: Friday, 13 June 2025, 11 a.m. – 6 p.m.
Exhibition dates: Friday, 13 June – Saturday, 12 July 2025.
Image caption title: Roman Ondak, Crossword I, 2025, Courtesy the artist and Esther Schipper, Berlin/Paris/Seoul, Photo © the artist
Exhibition Roman Ondak – Esther Schipper | Zeitgenössische Kunst in Berlin | Contemporary Art | Ausstellungen Berlin Galerien | ART at Berlin
