Kateřina Dobroslava Drahošová & Patrick Ostrowsky: homie
Exhibition level [EG]
The term "homies" is commonly used to describe mates from the neighborhood, who get on well together. Kateřina Dobroslava Drahošová was born in 1988 in the Bohemian Forest, just across the border from Bavaria, and Patrick Ostrowsky a few years later, on the Bavarian side of the border, in Schwandorf in the Upper Palatinate. Both decided to pursue art: Kateřina focused on concepts of nomadic life. Patrick was already interested in the experiences and influences of different places during his studies.
The understanding of what a "home" is or can be, has shifted in the 21st century due to increased mobility and digitalization. In the past, the journeyman's years were not only an essential part of training in crafts but also in the field of art, as they were associated with one's personal development. Today, different models of living and working together, alternating between an analog life and the digital cosmos, sometimes lead to situations in which one specific, single place is no longer perceived as home. Regular travel is essential for artists who are constantly exhibiting their work. Patrick Ostrowsky, whose residences are in Basel, Switzerland, and Munich, Bavaria, once said: "My home is really the train".
Kateřina Dobroslava Drahošová already began to put her theoretical preoccupation with nomadic life into practice during her studies: She traveled to Belgium and Finland with her boyfriend and her dog in a converted van, which she used as a living space, studio, and sometimes as a mobile art gallery. Her recent pastel and charcoal drawings, which she presents at the Kebbel Villa in dialogue with Patrick Ostrowsky's sculptural works, follow a universalist approach: She is not interested in an individual exploration of what a home is, based on personal needs and preferences; rather, she wants to sensitize people to a lasting understanding of the current state of our planet, the "home for all". Her drawings, which at first glance appear abstract and without references, reveal on closer inspection plants, flowers, sometimes even parts of the body, and occasionally, houses or huts: A few strokes result in architecture of the simplest form, which resonates with the idea of home.
Patrick Ostrowsky's works are characterized by a certain ambiguity. They sometimes connote pieces of designer furniture and architectural models but are unmistakably rooted in the field of sculpture. Within the tension between sharp edges and amorphous formations, smaller works, such as watercolor paintings and glazed ceramics, are integrated into larger contexts. Sometimes, individual sections radiate from within. The artist uses minimalist metal constructions, within which he develops his aesthetic worlds from different surface textures, traces of color, sculptures, and everyday objects. Opposite the entrance door, Patrick Ostrowsky has installed a small-format work entitled "a window (night vision)". The wall on which the work is installed once had a window that was bricked up years ago to create more hanging space. By referring to the art-historically significant motif of the window, the artist makes, to some extent, the hidden window visible again. However, his “window“ does not offer a view, real or imagined. But with its bluish color, it is connected to the blue pastel works of Kateřina Dobroslava Drahošová, which can be seen in several places of the joint exhibition.
Kateřina Dobroslava Drahošová (*1988 in Šumava, CZ, lives and works in České Budějovice, CZ) graduated from the Faculty of Fine Arts in Ostrava, CZ, in 2015. Between 2010 and 2013 she explored nomadic life, traveling to Belgium and Finland, among other places. She completed several artist residencies, including the Atelierhaus Salzamt in Linz, AT (2019), the Egon Schiele Residency in Krumau, CZ (2015), and the Mustarinda Art Residency in Finland (2013). Her work has been shown internationally in numerous solo and group exhibitions, including Kunstfabrik Groß Siegharts, AT (solo exhibition 2020), české spořitelny Gallery in Prague, CZ (2019), and Periscope Gallery in Salzburg, AT (2016).
Patrick Ostrowsky (*1991 in Schwandorf, lives and works in Munich and Basel, CH) completed his studies in 2020 as a Meisterschüler (master student) of Florian Pumhösl at the Academy of Fine Arts Munich. He also studied at the FHNW in Basel, CH, the Angewandte in Vienna, AT, at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität Munich, the Accademia di Belle Arti in Rome, IT, and at the Freie Universität Berlin. He has received numerous prizes and grants, including the USA Scholarship of the Free State of Bavaria (2024), the Debutant Prize of the City of Nuremberg and the Kunsthaus Nürnberg (2021), and a project grant from the Erwin and Gisela von Steiner Foundation (2020). He has presented solo exhibitions at Galerie Britta Rettberg in Munich, Rathaus für Kultur, Lichtensteig, CH (2019), and the Skulptureninstitut, Vienna, AT (2019), among others. Furtermore, he has participated in numerous group exhibitions such as "ZUHÖREN" at Schafhof, Europäisches Kunstforum Oberbayern in Freising (2024), "Junge Kunst" at Städtische Galerie Eichenmüllerhaus, Lemgo (2020), and "Boxenstop I" at Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich (2017).
The exhibition is funded by the Bavarian State Ministry of Science and the Arts as part of the BBK Bayern e.V. "Verbindungslinien" programme.
