2025 SOLO SHOW "Lonely Pleasures"

Denisa touched on themes that she continuously explores in her art practice, such as loneliness, longing, intimacy, long-distance relationships, falling in love, sexual imagination, and love triangles.

In Graz, she attempted to transform the chaos of her past relationships into a project. During the first month, she recorded personal crises in the form of a daily journal called “Points of Focus,” further exploring these themes through colored pencil and paint sketches on paper, as well as paper collages. Films such as "Parthenope" by Italian director Paolo Sorrentino, photographs by American photographer Duane Michals, fashion photography by the Dutch duo Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin, paintings by Francis Bacon, and a documentary about love and sex in different countries around the world served as her points of reference. She found the general transformation of relationships and intimacy in Japan particularly captivating, where people rent boyfriends or girlfriends or pay for services such as cuddle cafes. Contrary to mainstream cultural expectations about “normal” partner and family structures, the norm in Japan is often to remain single.

Denisa’s search is accompanied by her own expectation that finding the right partner would resolve her life dilemmas, leading to a family and children. In the second half of her residency, she translates her personal research into paintings on canvas. The title of the exhibition reflects her search for pleasure in various contexts, such as at the beginning of a relationship, in a long-term partnership, or outside of a relationship—questioning whether it is necessary to experience pleasure with someone close or whether it is possible to order it, pay for it as a service, or provide it to oneself.

The paintings evoke a sense of homeliness—the scenes feel more grounded and real. This makes the works more accessible to the viewer, drawing on familiar domestic elements such as beds, sofas, and carpets. Denisa paints lived experiences shaped by the environment she inhabits.