Emalin is pleased to present ret rie vers, a solo exhibition by Stanislava Kovalčíková (b. 1988, Slovakia). This is the artist’s first exhibition with the gallery.

Poised and libidinal, Kovalčíková’s paintings exist as much through their mythological imagery as in their settings: theatrical environments she stages for their mysteria to play out, featuring her play with light, mirrors, textiles and restrictions of our access to the painting itself. Modernism and contemporary decay moulder together on the surface of her paintings and sculptures, piled with fragmented detritus of today’s life. In ret rie vers, Kovalčíková turns specifically to our nervous attachment to time with a series of paintings on decomissioned 19th century Prussian clock dials.

Two sounds pervade the exhibition space: a ticking metronome resounds from inside the chimney, set to the speed of our heartbeat – except at times the sound contracts, expands and warps, as if our hearts could protest time by slowing down. The other ambient sound comes from the headphones of a sculpture – Kranke Frau (2016-2024), the “sick woman” – an homage to Isa Genzken, quietly playing the Mozart symphony used in healthcare phone queues and labour wards. She is there, alongside the sounds, to chaperone us around Kovalčíková’s paintings. While the practice can be understood as obsessive studies of painting itself – its essence, its materiality and history – Kovalčíková’s work unfolds just as much through this stage-setting.