Lot 226

Patrik Hábl (1975) A LANDSCAPE WITH CLOUDS

"The painting was created as a direct experience of a particular landscape in the rain. The clouds created a dramatic scenery in the horizon that reminded me of scenes from Baroque Dutch paintings", recalls the painter Patrik Hábl about the inspiration for Landscape with Clouds. The artist has made his mark on the public consciousness primarily through his monumental interventions of abstract art into important (often sacred) historical and contemporary buildings and permanent gallery exhibitions. A characteristic feature of his work, apart from its monumentality and work with space, is his long-standing interest in experimenting with painting techniques and processes, where he tirelessly tests the possibilities of the medium of painting and with endless inventiveness constantly tries to push them further. Often working without brushes, he applies paint to canvases in various ways, letting it dry, freeze, and drip. In the case of the gradually built-up and calligraphically applied layered composition of the painting Landscape with Clouds, the artist uses the so-called washed-out technique. His landscape motif here is conditioned by a monochromatic dark color palette, against which light shades contrast in the final layer, thus creating tension and drama in the whole situation. The unforgettable, deeply personal experience of the landscape is thus transferred by the painter to the canvas using a unique technique: 'the paint runs off and I tried to stop this moment and preserve the inner perception of the whole scenery. The work was exhibited in the solo exhibition Body of the Painting (2020) at the Regional Gallery of the Highlands in Jihlava and in the exhibition Expositie (2020) at the Broft Gallery in Leerdam, the Netherlands.