„The FitGurl series of glass objects follows the development of home care for one’s body during the Covid 19 pandemic. A set of "hot body at home" exercises by personal trainer Kim Kardashian will help you keep your body sexy even if you can't go to the fitness center. Bizarre anatomical modifications of author's own body based on the mentioned exercise set are a kind of lightened reflection of the global crisis. The objects are covid-specific, arising from an external situation dictated by a pandemic and at the same time a personal and intimate situation of domestic body-building.

 

As part of the nationwide lockdown, Michaela was limited to create only such works that could be manufactured at home. It was not possible to rent a studio with a large-format furnace and a glassworks, where she would produce semi-finished glass sticks, which would be further melted in the furnace.

 

Driven by circumstances to improvise, Michaela developed herself a small workspace in the basement of her house with a gas burner and a ceramic kiln with an inner diameter of 35 cm. She discovered the material in a bazaar, which bought the equipment of the former glassworks. The pile of glass that had been lying on the garden for several years was carefully processed into individual components. Then the author folded them very patiently into compositions in a furnace, followed by shaping over a mold. The limit for this collection of objects was clearly defined by the furnace format. Therefore, objects are composed of several parts and sewn with colored wire such as filigree or lace.

 

Any use of the glue is considered by Michaela to be a degradation of her creative work, everything must remain authentic, laborious, complicated. The long and strenuous production process is important for the development of the work. Over time, the "body" grows and folds into a kind of hybrid. Imperfections of the surface or shape are an integral part of the work. It reflects the real reality of processing old glass at home. And in the same way, according to Michaela, it reflects the imperfection (not only) of her own body and human work, which could of course be replaced by the current technology of machine-made bars, or by a milling machine for the production of a perfect material. "But it would no longer be me who always chooses the more difficult path for self-realization," the author adds.“ Text by curator marika Gálová

 

Notes:

 

Yogín 

Velikost: 40x45x8cm

Materiál: sklo, drát

Technika: Kahan, lehané slinované sklo

Rok: 2021

 

Serena

Velikost: 40x45x8cm

Materiál: sklo, drát

Technika: Kahan, lehané slinované sklo

Rok: 2021

 

Činka

Velikost: 45x45x25cm

Materiál: sklo, drát

Technika: Kahan, lehané slinované sklo

Rok: 2021