Aug 29, 2022
The ideal wonderland of Johana Kroft
The Czech artist Johana Kroft also has almost 10 years of experience in the advertising industry. Besides, she travelled around the world and founded a studio Idea & Maker in London with her husband, she currently works and lives in New York. Kroft’s works construct the 3D worlds she desires in diverse styles and pure colours, while often drawing inspiration from her beloved dog and expressing her deep emotion for the dog, and keeping her dog character alive forever through her artwork based on digital media.
This dog has been appearing since Kroft was still illustrating, and when she turned to 3D art, the pet was the first character she tried, and Kroft had been planning to make an animation of her own dog. Kroft has always had a dream of owning a puppy, and when she encountered this special mix breed of Parson Russell, sausage dog, and Whippet on Facebook, she decided to adopt her, affectionately known as Panda, also a character she has given much hope to in her work. The quiet and relaxed scene, with the dog’s pleased expression, has the look of an ideal life.
Minimalist Dog Series is stories featuring Panda as the protagonist, illustrating best friends who are separated and reunited, love stories in a romantic dinner, and leisurely moments when enjoying the sun. Through these simple and beautiful episodes of life, Kroft expresses a strong affection for the people and things around her, as well as a positive attitude in the face of life’s ups and downs.
Kroft, who is featured in the 59th Venice biennale at Decentral Art Pavilion, presents the moving image “There is nothing left” as an encouragement to those going through a difficult time in their lives, saying, “Only thing that we can do is peacefully wait till the darkness begins to slowly disappear. Because there is always a light and light here is symbol of new life and energy.”
Her attitude is as positive and open-minded as the works convey, whether she has had to leave her London studio, where she had been based for two years, to start a new life in New York after the pandemic lockdown, or quickly change her character to remote freelancer to fit in with today’s work patterns, we can see that resilience in her. Her latest work, “The trapped land of happiness and peace”, attempts to create an intriguing yet surreal context, using these unreal landscapes to reveal that randomness is so untraceable, and that the unknown is full of risks and challenges, but also inspires people to seize opportunities.
Kroft has said in an interview that her goal is to create something that makes her audience happy, and she is incredibly satisfied with the opportunity to create meaningful works for the public. In fact, Kroft is well on her way to achieving her goal, as her bold and bright colours and unconventional scenes perfectly illustrate her idea of a wonderland, with the beloved dog, and her hopes for the future. When the viewer enters the world she has constructed, they will be able to remove the anxiety that comes with contemporary society and find a peace that has long been lost in it, which is probably the ideal she is seeking.
