Bonus Level series, 2021-2023

Mixed media

185 x 85 cm

This installation belongs to the “Bonus Level” series inspired by old school console games, such as Super Mario, Crash Bandicoot and others. The paintings and objects from this series primarily deal with a combination of childhood nostalgia and landscape painting. I subsequently became intrigued by the concept introduced loosely by Mathias Fuchs, in his book Phantasmal Spaces. Fuchs deals with archetypical venues in games, like portals, forests, caves, etc. And it was this concept I have loosely based my practice around. Each painting represents a level in a fictional video game world. Symbols represent different levels, such as an apple (representing “Paradise”) a coin (representing  “Avalon”), highlighting different points where the player gathers. The main character is purposely omitted, only the topography of a virtual space remains – leaving behind huge worlds and maps where characters can get lost, with only the digital flora and architecture to guide them (and the occasional side character such as monster, bunnies, demons). Being purely imaginary, they can provide the viewer a dreamscape, an element of escapism which is suspended between the real and purely virtual. Today, this series entails around 20 paintings and a platform game which utilizes the paintings.

Supported using public funding by Slovak Arts Council