Matouš Hrbek↓

About the work

DO YOU HAVE WHAT YOU SEE BEFORE YOU WITHIN YOU AS WELL?

Matouš Hrbek’s graduation work consists of a series of wooden reliefs and easel paintings. His choice of subject matter was influenced by the amount of time he spends in his studio. It is a reflection of himself at work, engaged in a process that often begins as a mental exercise at the table. The table becomes a metaphor for the gateway to the game of consciousness and self-reflection that is a part of creative work.

Throughout his studies, Hrbek sought to express inner existence through expressive painting. Mostly, he dealt with themes associated with childhood, when the image served as therapy. Hrbek attaches great importance to the creative process itself, to acts of destruction and accidents that produce a certain dialogue between the drawing and the painting. In this way, he intuitively seeks out stories that he will later consciously identify with in his longer-term work. His graduation work, too, explores the perception of the self from the perspective of another person. It is a more subdued view of the theme of identifying with a position in which he himself is the artist painting his graduation work.

Matouš Hrbek has long tried to find narrative authenticity through painting. For now, he has reached a place where he finds meaning in illustrating ordinary situations that have an effect on him: the sensation of his own hands, of a table, or a fly flying out the window. The difference from his previous work lies in being grounded and in time, which is much closer to the present. In this project, he has tried to work more with the interpretation of basic concepts such as the artist, the work, and the material – in this case, wood.