Anna Zem谩nkov谩: CONDO 2025
For Condo 2025, The Approach has invited Sophie Tappeiner, Vienna, presenting Anna Zem谩nkov谩. The exhibition of satin collages by Anna Zem谩nkov谩 is her first in the UK and follows her presentation at the 60th International Art Exhibition, La Biennale di Venezia. Born in 1908 in a suburb of Olomouc, then part of Austria-Hungary, Zem谩nkov谩鈥檚 childhood enthusiasm for painting did not initially lead to a career as an artist. Encouraged by her family to become a dental assistant, it was only in 1960 at the age of 52 that she returned to consistently making art again.
Drawing soon became a daily ritual, taking place each morning on her kitchen table while she listened to music. Zem谩nkov谩鈥檚 drawings and collages are organic abstractions, hybrid biomorphic forms which resemble both flowers and insects. These blooming creatures borrow from the terrestrial and the organic, yet simultaneously appear alien and mechanical. Rocket shaped organisms capture the iconography of a time of great technological progress, in which space exploration and 鈥榗onquering the cosmos鈥� became an unimaginable reality.
The careful anatomical detail with which Zem谩nkov谩 renders her mutating 鈥榝lowers鈥� is perhaps indebted to her dentistry training. It is an effect that is subtly anthropomorphic and eroticised, often earning her comparisons to Georgia O鈥橩eeffe. Femininity and in particular her own experience of motherhood are central tenets of Zem谩nkov谩鈥檚 practice. Her forms not only appear on the precipice of a transformation, blossoming and flourishing before our eyes, but replicate the schemata of reproductive systems found in plants and other organic and animal forms. For curator and art historian Elena Sorokina, it is through Zem谩nkov谩鈥檚 art that one senses 鈥榖oth the physical and neurobiological experience of motherhood鈥�.
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For Condo 2025, The Approach has invited Sophie Tappeiner, Vienna, presenting Anna Zem谩nkov谩. The exhibition of satin collages by Anna Zem谩nkov谩 is her first in the UK and follows her presentation at the 60th International Art Exhibition, La Biennale di Venezia. Born in 1908 in a suburb of Olomouc, then part of Austria-Hungary, Zem谩nkov谩鈥檚 childhood enthusiasm for painting did not initially lead to a career as an artist. Encouraged by her family to become a dental assistant, it was only in 1960 at the age of 52 that she returned to consistently making art again.
Drawing soon became a daily ritual, taking place each morning on her kitchen table while she listened to music. Zem谩nkov谩鈥檚 drawings and collages are organic abstractions, hybrid biomorphic forms which resemble both flowers and insects. These blooming creatures borrow from the terrestrial and the organic, yet simultaneously appear alien and mechanical. Rocket shaped organisms capture the iconography of a time of great technological progress, in which space exploration and 鈥榗onquering the cosmos鈥� became an unimaginable reality.
The careful anatomical detail with which Zem谩nkov谩 renders her mutating 鈥榝lowers鈥� is perhaps indebted to her dentistry training. It is an effect that is subtly anthropomorphic and eroticised, often earning her comparisons to Georgia O鈥橩eeffe. Femininity and in particular her own experience of motherhood are central tenets of Zem谩nkov谩鈥檚 practice. Her forms not only appear on the precipice of a transformation, blossoming and flourishing before our eyes, but replicate the schemata of reproductive systems found in plants and other organic and animal forms. For curator and art historian Elena Sorokina, it is through Zem谩nkov谩鈥檚 art that one senses 鈥榖oth the physical and neurobiological experience of motherhood鈥�.
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