Ester Knapová's 'Flying Dreams' at Braunsfelder, Cologne

Braunsfelder gallery in Cologne presents 'Flying Dreams', a solo exhibition of Czech painter Ester Knapová (b. 1993, Prague). The show features works including 'Flying Dreams' (2025), 'Lost Moon' (2025), 'Fireflies' (2025), 'In the Depths' (2025), 'Letters from Home' (2025), 'Nettle V' (2025), 'On the Surface' (2025), 'Hiding Place' (2025), 'Black Cherries' (2025), 'Wind/Pain' (2025), 'Jester' (2025), and the 'Lies and Truths' series (2024–). Knapová's paintings explore childhood memories, often based on her own photographs or those by others, reworked through abstraction, cropping, and expressive color. The title references Carlos Saura's 1976 film 'Cría cuervos' (Raise Ravens), where the protagonist Ana imagines jumping from a roof. Knapová draws parallels to Proust's 'In Search of Lost Time' and Milan Kundera's notions of lightness and heaviness. Her process involves direct painting on canvas without preliminary sketches, with overpainting and breaks. The format of each canvas dictates cropping, echoing amateur family album snapshots. The 'Lies and Truths' series stems from selfies of her own eyes, prompted by viewers' comments about her appearance. The exhibition runs at Braunsfelder, Cologne.