Monstera

Vasil Artamonov’s solo exhibition at the new private gallery Clauda in Letná presents a series of recent paintings that take the quotidian as their symbolism. The title itself suggests that these are scenes that may seem ordinary at first glance, but their visual simplicity hides deeper layers of unease and adaptation. A familiar houseplant—the monstera—commonly seen in corporate open spaces, apartment building hallways, government offices, and waiting rooms now seems neutral, but it was once a strange and slightly frightening “monster.” His images are thus, in addition to an illusory imitation of reality, a precisely modulated expression of it—they grasp the complexity of reality, with its concreteness and mute threats, becoming witnesses to a transformation of perception, indicators of our adaptive responses to the unsettling things that have long existed alongside us without us being fully aware of them.

Clauda