ABOUT

In her paintings Aniko Violet depicts architecture, found objects, and seemingly familiar urban scenes. The paintings appear naturalist at first glance but in viewing the borders between reality, fiction, present and memory begin to fade. The chronology of the seemingly familiar becomes blurred. A hyperreality comes into being where the artist plays with an ambiguity of perspective, a game in which she also includes the viewers. Central characters become mere supporting actors, depictions that seem realistic at first expose gaping absences at second glance.

In all of her works Aniko Violet disrupts the safe distance that realism suggests and in doing so she creates an uncanny closeness. Who is locked in and who is locked out? Is it the viewers or the viewed characters? The pictures raise questions about the relationship between subjects and objects which cannot be clearly answered.

For the creation of her paintings the artist uses a self-developed technique. Inspired by the paintings of the Old Masters since Renaissance times, she works with an underpainting. But unlike her historic influences who painted with oil on canvas she applies watercolor on handmade paper. After this she builds up her paintings with color pencils in thin layers. In this way, she creates a fragile impression which oscillates between transparency and opacity. The depicted subjects seem to be taken out of reality into an unreal, dream-like atmosphere.