Petra Herotová

In her art Petra Herotová comments on stereotypes of roles in society, most often in connection with her family background. These autobiographical elements are transformed into a more general message. The primary medium employed by Herotová is drawing - whether on paper, in the form of objects or installations. She first exhibited her projects on her father (the video I wash my daddy’s car like my daddy does, in daddy’s tracksuit, 9 min., or the object Model of tools of my constructor) at the Půda Gallery in Jihlava (Relations exhibition, 2005). She developed this project in a series of simple drawings (Daddy’s Sayings, 2005-6) videos (...One, two, three; 2006) and installations commenting on the "masculine world". In 2006 together with Václav Magid and Vasilem Artamon she organized the Purpose exhibition at the AVU gallery that inquired into the functionality of art and, on the other hand, the artistic level of ordinary work. It was part of this exhibition that Herotová made the performance Vacuuming Dominik Lang's car.

A schematizing of activities is typical of her work with the propensity to use the form of diagrams and recipes. Worth mentioning are the performance Glue Made from ping-pong balls (according to her father’s recipe) (2006), the floor drawing Directions for planting (2007) or the entire principle of the exhibition at the Šternberk gallery 400g of flour... (2008) that she had with Daniela Baráčková. They exhibited their works here that, thanks to their similar meta-language and experiences, created a wide spectrum of mutual interpretations, citations and self-ironic allusions.

Petra Herotová also introducers into her work the theme of the existence and fate of the Czech diaspora in Croatia. Her video Dedicated to Slavka Žukovičová-Máchová (2006) or texts and drawings on teacher Karel Herot (Petra Herotová’s grandfather) attempts on a personal level to draw attention to correlations between Slavic nations and their differences.

She considers drawing to be a medium; the resulting work often consists of objects, wall paintings, videos or performance. She received first prize in the Startpoint competition of university theses for her work Spinning (2007) in which she stacked to a 60-cm height a manually copied drawing of a foot pedalling a spinning machine. At the 100% Blue exhibition in the gallery 207 (2009), platforms in the studio of Jiří David, which Herotová graduated from in 2007, she exhibited the cycle Views from Blansko. This cycle consists of 78 drawings on postcards that relate to her present job as curator at the galley in Blansko and her life linked to it. The unsent letters indicate a social isolation and feeling of Sisyphus work, and there is also here a demonstration of silent protest against the operating means of regional contemporary art institutions. She also focused on a similar problem in the latest presentation at the Youth Gallery of the Brno Culture Centre (Little River, 2009) that described social roles on the art scene and defined Herotová’s position within this system. Herotová is an artist with a distinct and original style and a novel way of contemplating the world.

2015      Postkonceptuální přesahy v české kresbě, editor: Lenka Sýkorová, strana 128-9, text o autorce: Anna Vartecká, vydal: FUD UJEP Sport je umění, Petr Volf, strany: 116-118, 128, vydal: Kant

2014     
2013-1998 Dům umění České Budějovice, strana 86-7, text o autorce: Jiří Ptáček, editor: Terezie Nekvindová, vydali: AVU-VVP, Dům umění České Budějovice

Tvoje věc, editoři: Jiří Ptáček, Matěj Smetana 2013      FILM. Directed by Artists 2, katalog k výstavě, strana 26-17, text o autorce: Barbora Geržová, Nitrianska galéria, Slovensko 2011      Shifts, Casa Masaccio, Itálie 2010 Zvon 2010, Bienále mladých, katalog k výstavě, Galerie hl. m. Prahy

2009     
Cena Jindřicha Chalupeckého Finále 09, katalog k výstavě, strana 28-39, text o autorce: Jan Zálešák, společnost Jindřicha Chalupeckého

5. Zlínský salon mladých 2009, katalog k výstavě, strana 62-63, text o autorce: Pavlína Pyšná, Krajská galerie umění Zlín 2008      Petra Herotová, Mám ráda A4 (kresby 2005-2008), autorský katalog, Galerie Klatovy/Klenová 2007      Start Point 2007, Výstava nejlepších diplomových prací evropských akademií, katalog k výstavě, strana 32-37, text o autorce: Edith Jeřábková, Galerie Klatovy/Klenová 2006 Věcné stavy, katalog k výstavě, editor: Václav Magid Umělec 3/2006, magazín, strana 84/Nové tváře, text o autorce: Jiří Ptáček, Divus