Solo show: Tomáš Kubík – Drawings, thoughts, notes…

Press Release:

The Art Mozaika Gallery and the Royal Canon of Premonstratensians in Strahov would like to invite you for the ceremonial opening of the exhibition of the renowned Czech author MgA. Tomáš Kubík: “Tomáš Kubík – Drawings, thoughts, notes…”

Tomáš Kubík studied at the Prague Academy of Arts in the now legendary studio of prof. Zdenek Berana. After an initial period when he mainly devoted himself to landscape painting and painting precise hyperrealistic still lifes, he found his subject in figure painting. He is the author of a number of large-scale figurative paintings, one of which was purchased by the National Gallery in Prague for its collections.

The exhibition in the Strahov Monastery will feature drawings, designs, sketches, as well as more finished works created between the 1990s and the present day. The exhibition is divided into several thematic areas.

The author’s preparatory drawings, sketches for paintings, records of ideas from sketchbooks with labels are significantly represented here. It is a kind of intimate insight into the process of creating an image, a look into the author’s kitchen. Unlike the finished paintings, these drawings have never been presented yet!

Another theme is the portrait, which Kubík devotes himself to continuously throughout his work. (He is the author of a representative portrait of the rector of Charles University, Prof. JUDr. Karel Maly, which has been located in Prague’s Karolín in a unique portrait gallery since 1882.)
The exhibition features portrait drawings made using the dry pastel technique, Roman red drawings on tinted backgrounds explained with white, precisely executed pencil drawings and, in one case, the sgraffito technique.

You can also see several figural compositions of a larger format, processed using a combined technique. They are mostly “cardboards” and variants of image cycles that Tomáš Kubík has worked on over the years.

Last but not least, line drawings should be mentioned. The author considers the technique of line drawing to be the “royal” technique of drawing. At the exhibition we don’t go line drawings of nudes, inspired by Michelangelo’s line drawings, self-portraits and note drawings from sketchbooks.

Among the pieces on display are several oil paintings. These are smaller formats painted with oil paints on lined paper or on panel. The theme is again figural composition, depiction of the human body or portrait in various environments and light atmospheres.

From the entire collection of paintings, the author’s inspiration is clear from pre-modern painting, a tendency towards artisanal perfection, which we see, for example, in Renaissance and Baroque artists. Kubík uses these techniques to portray his own themes, which he draws from his life, from the present and across artistic and cultural history.

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The ceremonial opening of the exhibition will take place on December 2 from 18:00 at the Strahov Monastery in Prague, Strahovské náměstí 1. The exhibition is for sale.

We wish you an extraordinary artistic experience!