US-Slovak family’s art exhibited in Bratislava

THE RESIDENCE of the US ambassador to Slovakia, Theodore Sedgwick, is currently housing an exhibition showing both the artistic and human genesis of the Rudavský family. Zuzana and Ondrej, children of the artistic couple, have both Slovak and US citizenship, since they left what was then Czechoslovakia in 1986. Zuzana, a versatile creator, has returned to Slovakia after 16 years of living and working in New York while Ondrej, who specialises in video-art, film, and digital art, has stayed in Los Angeles, the TASR newswire wrote.

US Ambassador Theodore Sedgwick with Zuzana and Mária Rudavská.US Ambassador Theodore Sedgwick with Zuzana and Mária Rudavská. (Source: Courtesy of the US Embassy)

THE RESIDENCE of the US ambassador to Slovakia, Theodore Sedgwick, is currently housing an exhibition showing both the artistic and human genesis of the Rudavský family. Zuzana and Ondrej, children of the artistic couple, have both Slovak and US citizenship, since they left what was then Czechoslovakia in 1986. Zuzana, a versatile creator, has returned to Slovakia after 16 years of living and working in New York while Ondrej, who specialises in video-art, film, and digital art, has stayed in Los Angeles, the TASR newswire wrote.

Their father Andrej, a renowned Slovak sculptor, has remained strongly connected to the Slovak countryside. Their mother Mária has exhibited in every corner of the world, with her work merging the “folk-Slovak” and the international dimension in a unique essence. The curator of the Slovak National Gallery, Katarína Bajcurová, summed up the element that connects all four members of the family as “the consciousness of tradition”.

The exhibit is a temporary one but will remain at the ambassador’s residence until spring; some pieces may remain even longer. Members of the embassy thought the exhibition would be interesting because of the importance and diversity of the entire family’s body of work.

The Rudavskýs represented Slovakia at the 1997 Venice Biennale and Andrej Rudavský’s sculpture depicting Saints Cyril and Methodius stands at the United Nations headquarters in New York as a gift from Slovakia. Zuzana and Ondrej’s dual citizenship means that the work of this one family represents a joint exhibition of Slovak and American art.

Ambassador Sedgwick said at the opening of the exhibition, which was accompanied by Ivan Šíller on piano, that the artworks have a historic, social and political resonance. They reflect a deeply Slovak perception as well as the universal language of art and beauty. Unfortunately, the exhibition is not open to the public.


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