As part of the broader context of her project »Communication Art«, Maria Dundakova developed the series La vie douce & La vie amère [The Sweet Life & The Bitter Life] in 1978. The assemblages bring together a collection of the most diverse objects.
Newspaper cuttings, ads and chocolate are always the central components, which address the viewer on the intellectual or emotional level. The artist has not included real chocolate in these works, but presented deceptively real imitations made of wax or resin which are not short on visual impact. As an acquaintance of the chocolate manufacturer Walter Niederhauser, who died in 1986, she basically uses the moulds from his company, which had once been located in Zurich. Likewise in the series of collages Modern Time which Maria Dundakova did some twenty years later, she returned to Niederhauser chocolate. In these works she integrated newspaper ads that the company published in the 1930s and 1940s, which laud chocolate as a surprise gift and as a culinary delight for festive occasions. Already these two series show the breadth of the materials and techniques which the artist employes. Her work embraces not only painting, drawing and object making, but also video, installations and performances. As a wanderer along the borders between the media, she has time and again demonstrated her universality. Maria Dundakova’s artistic aim is to bring people together through art and to create understanding. The ability of chocolate to generate positive feelings on all occasions does the rest.
Participation in the exhibition Art with chocolate with works from the cycles “La vie douce & la vie amère” and “Modern Time”.
Museum Ritter Art with Chocolate http://www.museum-
13 May until 30 September 2012
