The purpose of this website is to show Alena Dostalova's work and increase awareness of her projects.
Alena has specialized in practical research and sales of modern and contemporary art and design since 2005. Alongside she has developed her own art practice. The first sale of her drawings happened already during the secondary school to her friend's drama teacher. Having worked for different dealers, gallerists and a design retailer Skandium in London, she has gained a varied hands-on experience. From managing a unique prints and framing shop, assisting at art fairs (Frieze Art Fair 2008-2011 among others), writing an exhibition catalogue for a dealer in Modern British art to making sales of top modern furniture, she is known for her thorough approach. She is an occasional curator and contributor to a Czech art + antiques magazine. Her art work has been exhibited in the Czech Republic and the U.K. since 2000, the latest group shows include Lost in Translation? at the Riverside Studios, November 2010 and Encoded Systems, February 2011.
Prior to reaching her BA in History of Art and English Language and Literature at the Faculty of Arts (Filozoficka Fakulta), Masaryk University, Brno, the Czech Republic, in early 2005, Alena had achieved her Christie's Education Diploma for one year studies in Modern and Contemporary Art in 2003. To complete the set of academic qualifications she is finalizing a part-time MA programme in History of Art at Birkbeck College, University of London focusing on independent research.
Searching for the Heart of Southend on Sea
a project for www.artside.org.uk
see Blackboard for further details
29th June - 16th July 2011
The Royals, 24 - 25 High Street, Southend
http://london.czechcentres.cz/programme/travel-events/ln-july-dostalova-at-artside/
Fragmented Desire Series I.
Bar Prague, 6 Kingsland Road, London, E2 8DA
6th - 26th June 2011
opening 6th June after 7:30PM
opening hours 12:00PM - 11:30AM (basement gallery open after 6PM and on request any time, www.barprague.com )
Encoded Systems
A group exhibition
Red Gate Gallery, 4th- 10th February 2011, curated by: Alena Dostalova
209a Coldharbour Lane, London, SW9 8RU, nearest tube Brixton
Private View: Friday 4th February 2011 6:00 to 11pm
The theme of this exhibition harks back to ancient times - it concerns interpretations of the mechanisms this world operates with; its systems, codes and manifestations of intelligence.
A lot of things in life for example deal with repetition, not only the mundane daily schedule, but the tasks within it rotate, actions rotate, input is followed by output, action triggers reaction, communication and response. In commerce demand is followed by supply, in nature oxygen circulates through breathing. The world works in a system of rotation, not only physically, but mentally as well. It is based on exchange, within an endless chain of evolution and progress starting with the body, nature and cosmos. Time, as a relative scientific construct, is largely a human invention. It helps to see the same idea through centuries. Hynek Martinec' s works from the Lost in Time series document this travel through time recycling imagery with reference to old masters and even quoting from contemporary art.
There have been a number of attempts to explain how the world works through science, religion and art among other fields. Whereas the results from science can create credible and fact supported evidence of how we got to where we are, religion in theory can provide stories to adhere to, based on a belief-system of what is intrinsically good for us as mankind, what mistakes we make over and over and what remedies can be applied, empowered by the notion that there is something higher than us running things here and that that something can only be reached through the process of learning and flexing the brain's 'muscles'. Visual art on the other hand affords one of the oldest forms of intelligence. In its manifestations there are analogies with mathematical and scientific formulae. These are reflected in abstract pictorial transcripts. Artists have worked with symbols and signs that represent a whole set of universes - particularly in ancient Aztec, Egyptian, Greek and Indian cultures. The works by emerging and established artists in Encoded Systems draw on this heritage.
Participating artists:
Justina Burnett, U Jae Chung, Alena Dostálová, Dotmancando, Marek Maria Dutka, Beatrice Haines, Yuichiro Kikuma, Hynek Martinec, Page Tsou, Johannes Vetter, Sung Feel Yun