Ildikó Pálová

Ildikó Pálová represents a specific solitary phenomenon among young Slovak painters. She belongs among artists whose oeuvre does not fit into any group, “school”, or trend. Her life stories and the way they are presented are sometimes awfully impressive. The artist paints because she has to paint. She must give an account of her experience and the painting itself sets her free from an inner restlessness. Although neither the environment of a small town (Rimavská Sobota) nor her family inspired her to focus on art production, she was attracted to fine arts from childhood. During her studies and shortly thereafter, she focused on expressive figural painting and portraits (mainly with a social context) where she tried to capture the nature of a model rather than a specific appearance. The same is true of her more or less fictional self-portraits in which she depicts herself as an old woman.
Later, she created larger cycles that were related to places she stayed for longer periods of time. For example, in Germany she was kept against her will and physically and psychologically abused; in England she took care of old people. Later she depicted her experiences from stays in psychiatric hospitals. Her work at the Municipal gallery in Rimavská Sobota is quite extensive. She responded to her current experiences with friends and relatives. She also created a large cycle inspired by her marital relationship -- from the first meeting with her husband, pregnancy and childbirth, and paintings of their son, Dávid, in nature, with animals, and in the circus. To perhaps exaggerate a bit, she moves from chronicles of indignity to the depiction of love and happiness stemming from moments spent with her son.

2013: Ildiko Pálová, Vienna stories, SOGA-Bratislava

2010: Young Slovak Painting - Ildikó Pálová, Bratislava City Gallery

2008: Ildikó Pálová - Home in Rimavská Sobota, Gallery LINEA, Bratislava

2005: Ildikó Pálová - The first solo exhibition, the Municipal Gallery, Rimavská Sobota

2013: La Belle Peinture II/ Beautiful paintings II, Pistoriho palace, Bratislava

2013: Ping-pong, House Of Art, Bratislava

2012: The Faculty of Arts at the Technical University of Kosice, AMoYA, Prague

2011: INTER-VIEW, Nitra Gallery

2008 - 2009: 1960 -> PRESENT, City Gallery Prague - The Golden Ring, Prague

2007: Young Slovak Painting - New Blood, Bratislava City Gallery

2006: Oskár Čepan Award, Gallery Medium, Bratislava

2006: Stop Violence Against Women, Amnesty International, Bratislava

2005 - 2006: Draught in the Slovak Paintings, Žilina, Prague

2005: Department of Fine Arts and Intermedia, Vojtech Löffler Museum, Košice

2004: Under the Blue Sky, Open Gallery, Bratislava

I.Jančár: Ildiko Pálová, Vienna stories, 2013, Catalogue of the exhibition at SOGA

Ivan Jančár: Ildikó Pálová, Once I'm up, once I'm down, pubhlished by Vydavateľstvo Krása, Bratislava, Slovakia, 2010

Ildikó Pálová, Home in Rimavská Sobota, published by Galéria Linea, Bratislava 2008, text Beata Jablonská, cataloge of the exhibition

New blood, Young Slovak Painting published by Vydavateľstvo Krása, Bratislava, 2007. Text Ivan Jančár. Catalog of the exhibition in the Bratislva City Gallery, 2007.

Ildikó Pálová, kCatalog of the exhibition, published by the Municipal Gallery Rimavská Sobota, 2005. Text Gabriela Garlatyová