She could be easily missed in the minefield of her fellow dots, they seem like they have it together, an urge to seem organized is present, and the desire to disrupt seems to make it hard for them to stay in order…a voice in the back of the head that indulges in procrastination, finds comfort in indecisiveness and wants to be at two places at once… Polka dots first appeared in the Middle Ages, but until technological advancements, they were not very popular as they resembled a rash or skin lesions caused by the plague with their uneven edges, disorderly movement, and offbeat rhythm. It is only upon their comeback in recent history with the rise of modern textile technology that they were able to successfully colonize our fabrics, posters, and ceramics…they were prescribed to women, whereas stripes were reserved for the logical and orderly. In this exhibition, they are a type of choreography marker or an escape mystery map.

Little rebels.

Sequins reveal a hidden layer that does not present itself in a white cube so boldly, but rather a promise of what lies behind the cracked door and what the artist gifts in her performative works. A circle, a hole, and a sphere- dominant motifs in this exhibition, which Valentýna wittily constructs and places, create illusions, and play tricks on our minds as they morph into one another juxtaposing cold surfaces and domestic tactility. A sphere easily becomes a circle, a circle creates a hole and a hole stays a circle, the play of flatness, portals, props, magic tricks, and upholstery techniques easily puts a spectator in a comic book setting facing glitches and causing disorientation. Darkness, shadow and sensory plays and are known tricksters, which are also present, maybe as a prelude to future traps and landscapes the artist is constructing.

I define ‘’decadence’’ as both an aesthetic and lived experience of excess, that is to say, the exceeding of gendered, sexed, and raced norms related to both women and art. – Julia Skelly, Radical Decadence, Bloomsbury, 2017

What Skelly defines as the experience of excess and radical decadence is hindering among upholstered objects, a peephole of sorts allows a peek into the undergarment busting open through walls, ceilings, cushions and cherry wood tables squished into bedazzled balls.

Text by Jelisaveta Rapaić