Ján Mancuška

Mancuska used to build installations from the peripheral material of civilization (Q-tips, plastic bags, straw, paper, soap or wax) and his interest in "authenticity" relates to places with a similarly subtle but strong emotional-social charge (kitchens, bathrooms, housing projects and weekend cottages to name a few). Lately his approach has come to include use of language in site-specific installations--cutting texts into a wall or displaying a story in a space, he creates a tension between reading and seeing, verbal narrative and visual stimulus, the personal and public. Ján Mancuska, who grew up and studied in Prague, has been a member of the group BJ (Bezhlavy jezdec/Headless Horseman) since 1997, and his work occupied the Czech Pavillion at the last Venice Biennale. He is represented by Andrew Kreps Gallery, and has also shown his work at Zwirner & Wirth, both in New York.