Peter Sceranka – The Mystery of Air
The exhibition project *The Mystery of Air* presents a selection of works by Košice-based visual artist Peter Sceranka (October 16, 1955 – March 26, 1999), whose significance extends beyond the region’s borders and who, in the context of exhibitions in Slovakia, is among the underappreciated artists. The exhibition at the East Slovak Gallery in Košice is not a monographic survey of the artist’s oeuvre, but rather a curatorial selection of works that highlights, above all, his creative role as a draftsman, painter, and collage artist.
*The Mystery of Air* is the title of a 1994 drawing by Sceranko that embodies several characteristics of his work from this period: swirling dot and line structures “sketched” in pencil dynamically spread across the entire surface of the paper. At this time, drawing became one of Sceranko’s dominant media; he created his unique, free-flowing large-format compositions, which represent a distinctive position within Slovak drawing of the 1990s. In the context of the exhibition, “secrecy” can be interpreted as the state of what remains hidden, inaccessible, or unknown. In his drawings from this period, Sceranka does not reproduce the visually perceived world, but strives to go beneath the surface of the visible and capture processes that defy optical perception.
Peter Sceranka (1955, Košice – 1999, Košice) was a Slovak sculptor, draftsman, and painter.
From 1976 to 1981, he studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Bratislava in the figurative sculpture studio. Although his training was in sculpture, drawing became a significant and increasingly defining part of his work. He focused on figurative motifs—the head and the human body—which he gradually transformed into loose, gestural, spatial, and abstract structures. Particularly characteristic are his large-format drawings from the 1990s, in which he explored the possibilities of line, volume, movement, and interior space. In 1992, he won first prize for drawing at the International Art Biennial in Barcelona. He lived and worked in Košice, where he died prematurely. His work represents a distinctive—and to this day insufficiently recognized—aspect of Slovak art from the final decades of the 20th century.
Opening: October 28, 2026, 6:00 p.m.
Curator: Lucia Gavulová
Exhibition dates: October 29, 2026 – February 28, 2027
Hall C, Hlavná 27, KošiceMore information about the exhibition:https://vsg.sk/peter-sceranka-tajnost-vzduchu/