Big Girls Don’t Cry is a solo exhibition of the young emerging artist Radka Tomaschek Škodová (*1997), who studies, lives, and works in Brno. Radka is studying painting in the Studio of Painting 2 at the Faculty of Fine Arts, Brno University of Technology.

​

In her artistic practice, Radka focuses primarily on the medium of painting. Through her distinctly figurative work, she captures herself in stylized depictions of young, seductive women in very intimate scenes, where she does not hesitate to highlight the beauty and aesthetic qualities of the naked female body with voluptuous forms.

​

Through the works presented in the exhibition Big Girls Don’t Cry, the artist decided to reveal her inner world, the experience of her corporeality, and the search for female identity through narrative stories. The main idea of the concept stems from a deep desire to explore and celebrate womanhood in line with the challenges that shape and simultaneously create her personal life story.

​

The intention of the exhibition is to direct the viewers’ attention to a pause and reflection on the complexity of female experience in confrontation with expected stereotypes. By creating space for introspection and dialogue with the audience, Škodová aims not only to celebrate the female figure but also to draw attention to the reality in which women live today.

​

In her work, we can observe a certain effort to disrupt the traditional canon of beauty, which is evident in the wide range of depicted variations of the female form. What unites them all is their monumentality, insistence, their captivating gazes, as well as their voluptuous shapes reminiscent of Moravian or Rubenesque Venuses.

​

The artist’s aim is, to some extent, to remove social pressure and prejudices associated with ideals of female beauty through her work. Therefore, in her paintings, she offers authentic presentations of femininity and also reinforces a positive view of diversity and difference.

​

​

The title of the series Big Girls Don’t Cry is a gesture and statement with two layers of meaning. On the one hand, it refers to historical realities and traditions that usually confine women to the role of silently suffering beings, enduring their sealed fate under the rule of husband/partner/father. On the other hand, however, it points to a much bolder perspective on women—one that does not fit into traditional, conservative conventions and refuses to be reduced merely to determinative stereotypes.

​

In society, and especially in contemporary culture, the social view of women is often reflected through the concept of the so-called male gaze. This concept describes the tendency to perceive and portray women from a male point of view, which leads to the creation of idealized images that support and reinforce traditional gender stereotypes and ideals of beauty—often in the form of an artificial sex symbol.

​

The artist’s work thus departs from common trends, for example, by offering a view of women from the perspective of the artist herself—as a woman. She prioritizes an authentic approach to expressing the female experience. By creating space for self-examination and dialogue, the artist seeks to celebrate her own interpretation of Big Girls, where the qualities of women, both psychological and physical, are not restricted to a specific physical form—the beauty ideal—but rather insist on being authentic, independent, and strong.

​

This exhibition forces us to reflect on how we can explore and transform our own ideas and visions. Monumental oil paintings are presented here alongside more intimate formats combining various screen-printing techniques. Another distinctive feature is Radka Škodová’s sense of humor, which can be discovered in the titles of individual works, allowing us to better understand the meaning hidden behind each of them.