NEW YORK, NY.- Peter Freeman, Inc. will present Roman Ondak’s inaugural solo exhibition with the gallery, his first in New York since his 2009 performance of Measuring the Universe (2007) at The Museum of Modern Art. This survey spans sculptures, paintings, and photographs from 1992 to 2025.

Roman Ondak reimagines everyday situations, calling reality and its representation into question. Coming of age under the Communist regime of Czechoslovakia, which was dissolved in 1989 while the artist was in college, Ondak witnessed life under strict state control as well as its transformation into a democracy. Drawing from these two worlds, the artist uses recurring images and found objects to shift and shape our perception of reality, highlighting the subtle differences between memory and truth.

The exhibition’s titular work welcomes visitors to the space as if it is the artist’s home, seemingly inviting them to ring the bell for entry access. Other artworks throughout the gallery continue this domestic theme: a set of his son’s keys left in a lock; deconstructed window frames hung on the wall or from the ceiling; and a series of used tea bags arranged in neat rows. These works capture fleeting moments in daily life, one in which a key is turned to unlock a door or a window is opened to let in a breeze; the way in which Ondak recreates these actions within the gallery almost urges the viewer to reenact them, blurring the line between reality and art.

Several works touch on historical memory and cultural events. A diptych from 2003 depicts mirrored images of two men, the artist and his father, sitting on the same park bench reading the same newspaper from 22 August 1968—the day after the suppression of the Prague Spring political protests. In the abstract sculpture Melancholia (2025), linear elements with a round head resemble a seated figure while recalling Russia’s 1957 satellite Sputnik 1. A new body of work layers blank crossword puzzles taken from 1940s–1980s Slovak magazines on top of each other. Through these recollections, Ondak reminds us that the past is inextricably tied to the present, shaping our experiences.

Ondak (b. 1966, Žilina, Czechoslovakia) lives and works in Bratislava, Slovakia. His recent solo exhibitions and performances include Tate Modern, London (2025); The Gund, Kenyon College, Gambier, Ohio (2024–2025); Fundació Antoni Tàpies, Barcelona (2023); Pinakothek de Moderne, Munich (2022); and Kunsthalle Bratislava, Slovakia (2021). His work has been included in recent group exhibitions at Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin, Ohio (2025); Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2024); Moderna galerija, Ljubljana, Slovenia (2023); and Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, France (2022). Ondak represented Slovakia at the 53rd Biennale di Venezia, Italy (2009) and has since participated in the 54th Biennale di Venezia, Italy (2011) and documenta 13, Kassel, Germany (2012). His work is in the collections of the Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto; Centre Pompidou, Paris; Kunsthaus Zürich, Switzerland; Museum Ludwig, Cologne; The Museum of Modern Art, New York; Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; and Tate, London. His upcoming retrospective at the Kunsthalle Praha, Czech Republic opens November 2025.