Catalog Radka Bodzewicz: FAUST

The catalogue for Radka Bodzewicz’s exhibition at the DOX Centre for Contemporary Art presents her latest series of paintings, which are inspired by Goethe’s Faust. The publication mirrors the unique layout of the exhibition, which dedicated each of the three floors of the gallery to one of the story’s main characters – Mephistopheles, Margaret, and Faust – approaching them as both archetypal forces and different aspects of a single psyche. This is far from the first time that Bodzewicz has worked with timeless themes and motifs from classical literature. She translates her readings of literary masterpieces into conceptually and expressively cohesive series of images in which she often combines classical artistic techniques with new technologies. She previously interpreted Dante Alighieri’s The Divine Comedy and John Milton’s epic poem Paradise Lost. The publication features an extensive interview with Bodzewicz conducted by exhibition curator Michaela Šilpochová, in which they discuss her work with literary inspirations, the importance of reading for the creative process, and her use (and rejection) of new technologies in painting.