Roman Ondak's Poetic Minimalism at Musée d'Art Moderne de Paris

Roman Ondak's 2012 exhibition at the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris (September 28 – December 16) showcased his signature blend of simplicity and humility. Known for his 2009 Slovak Pavilion at the Venice Biennale, where he transformed the space into a garden, Ondak continued to explore the boundary between art and life. The Paris show featured works like a reconstructed drawer of his son's childhood trinkets, a staircase railing from his parental home referencing Marcel Duchamp's Nude Descending a Staircase, and a simulated museum guard's chair. Pieces such as 'Before Waiting Becomes Part of Your Life' and 'Futuropolis' involved intertextuality and co-authorship, while 'Measuring the Universe' engaged viewers directly. The exhibition concluded with the delicate, nearly imperceptible 'Butterfly.' Critic Erik Verhagen praised Ondak's 'probity' and 'justness' in execution, contrasting his 'poor' art with the bombastic works of Adel Abdessemed at Centre Pompidou. Ondak's approach echoes conceptual, minimal, and Arte Povera traditions, demonstrating a 'right relation between artistic gesture and expenditure,' as Jean-Louis Comolli described.