Jan Kostaa was born in 1983 in Czechoslovakia. He currently lives and works in Banská Bystrica, Prague, Palma de Mallorca, and New York. He studied at the Academy of Arts in Banská Bystrica, Slovakia. He received his PhD in contemporary art in 2014. He completed study mobility at universities in Spain and Romania. He currently runs his own small contemporary art gallery, A7 Gallery, in Banská Bystrica with a residency program. He also organizes exhibitions and residencies in Palma de Mallorca. Kostaa is an artist, tattooist, gallerist, photographer, and traveler. He has also worked as a dramaturg for several cultural events, but also as a theater technician.
Layering is considered an elementary strategy in the creation process. Overlaying the past with the new, gesture, surface, lines, and text. A figure in disorder and chaos, animals, wallpaper, and decorations. The basis of the recognition of Kostaa’s work is change. Some canvases have two to three layers, others ten or twelve. Some sculptures are the fifth or sixth mutation of their previous version. Reincarnation in practice. The destruction of the past and the layering of the new is, for Kostaa, a truly therapeutic process, without any pathos. Kostaa connects the abstract with the figurative, the surface with perspective, clean with dirty, manual with digital, political with natural. Some of the topmost layers allow a partial view of the lower ones, some are intentionally unfinished, calling for connections between them. Incompleteness, incompleteness, an open conclusion, a discussed debate, the process of anything and any stage. Kostaa does not explore anything in his work. All the attributes of his work lead away from the expectation of the definitive. It is not always necessary to finish the work. It is not always necessary to specialize. It is not always necessary to do something. It is not always necessary to have an opinion on the matter. Kostaa’s work is a tangle of developing and disappearing events that are in constant interaction with each other.
text: Ian Hauer, curator
Education
2011 – 2014 – PhD., The Academy of Arts, Banska Bystrica, Slovakia
2004 – 2010 – Mgr. Art., The Academy of Arts, Banska Bystrica, Slovakia
2013 – internship at Escuela de Arte in Oviedo, Spain
2009 – internship at Universitatea de Arta si Design in Cluj Napoca, Romania
Artistic Residencies
2024 – in Tenderfoot Studio, Brooklyn, New York
2024 – in A7rooms residency program, Palma de Mallorca
2023 – in Tenderfoot Studio, Brooklyn, New York
2022 – in Espacio Pulpo, Cultural center, Palma de Mallorca, Spain
2020 – in Hájovňa, Cultural center, Banska Štiavnica, Slovakia
2020 – in Galerie XY, Comtemporary Art Gallery, Olomouc, Czechia
2020 – in Nastupište 1-12, Cultural center, Topolčany, Slovakia
2016 – in Sa Taronja Cultural center, Andratx, Mallorca
2016 – in Oficinas do Convento Curtural center,Montemor O Novo, Portugal
2015 – in Pôtoň Theatre, Cultural center, Batovce, Slovakia
2014 – in KRA Cultural center, Czechia
2013 – in Escuela de Arte de Oviedo, Spain
Curatotial projects
2016 – on going: Founder, curator and CEO of A7 Gallery, artist-run-space, Banska Bystrica, Slovakia / Independent private gallery of contemporary art.
2018 – 2020: Visual Program of Zahrada – Independent Cultural Center, Banska Bystrica, Slovakia
Curator and event coordinator for visual arts program of contemporary art.
2010 – 2019: FRASK – franco-slovak association. Co-curator and event coordinator of cultural program focused on public presentations of bilateral cultural events as lectures, seminars, workshops, screenings, ect.
2009 – 2014: Peripheral Centres – co-founder and curator of project focused on importing contemporary arts to rural and peripheral localities. From three to eight days long art camps, experimental exhibitions, screenings, mappings, performancies ect. (Slovakia, Czech republic, Romania)
Solo shows
2022 – Tropies, Satelit project, PGU, Žilina, Slovakia
2022 – Project Physical, Casa Planas Cultural center, Palma de Mallorca
2021 – Project Physical, Galeria Výklad, Trnava, Slovakia
2018 – PARAFRAZA SOCIALNEJ TARCHY NA PLECIACH JEDNOTLIVCA 2, Nova Vlna Gallery, Trencin, Slovakia
2017 – PARAFRAZA SOCIALNEJ TARCHY NA PLECIACH JEDNOTLIVCA, Nova VlnaGallery, Trencin, Slovakia
2016 – ODE TO JOY, Sa Taronja Gallery, Andratx, Mallorca, Spain
2015 – REZISTENCIA LOVU A INE PANORAMY INDIVIDUALIZMU, PGU, Zilina, Slovakia
2013 – VŠADE DOBRE, DOMA NAJLEPŠIE, Nitra´s Gallery, Nitra, Slovakia
2013 – 15 YEARS, FX Gallery, Banska Bystrica, Slovakia
2013 – CONFRONTATIONS, Local Espacio Gallery, Gijón, Spain
Group shows
2024 – Session, A7 Gallery, Banska Bystrica, Slovakia
2023 – Balifornia (with Dorota Holubová) – Espacio Pulpo Cultural center, Palma de Mallorca
2023 – Adamove Jablká (with Dorota Holubová), A7 Gallery, Banska Bystrica, Slovakia
2022 – Hradby Samoty festival, Jelšava Castel, Slovakia
2022 – All the Best, Nitra´s Gallery, Nitra, Slovakia
2021 – Lokal/Visual Zahrada – Independent Cultural Center, Banska Bystrica, Slovakia
2020 – Tupá Sila, A7 Gallery, Banska Bystrica, Slovakia
2019 – Kings and Queens, Koniareň Gallery, Trebišov, Slovakia
2019 – EROTICA, Blank Space Gallery, Oslo, Norway
2019 – PINK RIOT, Casa Planas Cultural center, Palma de Mallorca, Spain
2017 – VERNISAZ, 300štvorcov Gallery, Banska Bystrica, Slovakia
2016 – MAZIPOS, Visual Kontakt Gallery, Oradea, Romania
2016 – REGULAR LINE,Nástupište 1-12 Gallery Cultural center, Topolčany, Slovakia
2016 – BYSTRICKÉ PASTORÁLE, 300štvorov Gallery, Banska Bystrica, Slovakia
2016 – SLOVAK ART DAYS IN AMSTERDAM in Badhuistheater, Netherland
2016 – NEWROPE, Nitra´s Gallery, Nitra, Slovakia
2016 – REGULAR LINE, Galeria Municipal, Montemor O Novo, Portugal
2016 – BANKET, Kartago Atelier Gallery, Banska Bystrica, Slovakia
2015 – POSEDY, Alternativa Gallery, Jihlava, Czechia
2015 – PSOTA NA SLOVENSKU, Theater Poton, Batovce, Slovakia
2014 – FINE ArtD 2., Central Slovakian Gallery, Banska Bystrica, Slovakia
2014 – FACE TO FACE: Works on Paper from Slovakia, FAB Gallery, Edmonton, Canada
2014 – 50 WORDS, public-art project, Bratislava, Slovakia
2013 – RE-VIZIA, Central Slovakian Gallery, Banska Bystrica, Slovakia
2013 – MIXED BLOOD, East-Slovak Gallery, Košice, Slovakia
2013 – PERIFERNE CENTRA EXHIBITION, Hangar/Tranzit atelier, Bratislava, Slovakia
2013 – TRANFORMACIONES, Gallery of School of Art, Oviedo, Spain
2012 – 4 VIEWS, FX Gallery, Banska Bystrica, Slovakia
2011 – PERIFÉRNE CENTRÁ, Art Camp, Stare, Slovakia
2011 – PERIFÉRNE CENTRÁ, Art Camp, Hontianske Trstany, Slovakia
2011 – PERIFÉRNE CENTRÁ, Art Camp, Ilija, Slovakia
2010 – AFO film festival, Olomouc, Czechia
2010 – EARLY MELONS film festival, Bratislava, Slovakia
2010 – PERIFÉRNE CENTRÁ, Art Camp, Dubravica, Slovakia
2010 – PERIFÉRNE CENTRÁ, Art Camp, Babina, Slovakia
2010 – PERIFÉRNE CENTRÁ, Art Camp, Hontianske Trstany, Slovakia
2009 – DOHROMADY, Art Camp, Dubravica, Slovakia
2009 – UNDE E GUNOIUL, Facultatii de Teatru si Televiziune, Cluj-Napoca, Romania
2009 – ENVIROFILM festival, Banska Bystrica, Slovakia
2009 – ALBAC 21, Cluj-Napoca, Romania
2009 – PERIFÉRNE CENTRÁ, Art Camp, Dubravica, Slovakia
2009 – PERIFÉRNE CENTRÁ, Art Camp, Podkonice, Slovakia
2009 – PERIFÉRNE CENTRÁ, Art Camp, Lom nad Rimavicou, Slovakia
2009 – PERIFÉRNE CENTRÁ, Art Camp, Stare Hory, Slovakia
2009 – PERIFÉRNE CENTRÁ, Art Camp, Šumiac, Slovakia
2009 – TOURFILM festival, Karlove Vary, Czechia
2009 – DIGITAL MEDIA, Cultural Hall, Bratislava, Slovakia