Vernisáž Patrik Hábl: Anatomy of Time

The painting is not a composition. It is a process. Layer by layer. Gesture by gesture.

The exhibition Anatomy of Time presents a selection of works by Patrik Hábl in which the main role is not played by the brush, but by time, which functions as an organizing principle of painting. The image does not emerge as a predetermined composition, but as the result of a gradual process—of layering, correction, and transformation of the material.
Hábl approaches the surface as a site of concentrated activity. Individual interventions accumulate and enter into mutual relationships, generating tension between density and light, between concealment and revelation. Each work is the outcome of continuous engagement, in which form stabilizes through time.
Painting is not an illustration of duration, but its concrete manifestation. The structure of the image carries traces of its own formation and organizes them into a visual whole that is both physical and condensed.
Anatomy of Time examines how time is inscribed into the very construction of the image—as an energy that shapes the material and determines its final form.

About author

Patrik Hábl (*10 July 1975, Zlín) is a Czech painter, printmaker, and university lecturer, and one of the prominent figures of the contemporary Czech art scene. He studied at the Secondary School of Applied Arts in Uherské Hradiště and later at the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague under Pavel Nešleha. He also completed study stays with Mikoláš Axmann, at the Mukhina Academy in St. Petersburg, and at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague under Vladimír Kokolia.

Hábl is known for his experimental techniques, such as torn painting, the use of rollers, and working with liquid pigment. His canvases often lack a traditional frame and become integrated into architecture.

He also creates large-scale spatial interventions within architectural settings, including sacred spaces, and has exhibited both in the Czech Republic and internationally. He has received several awards (such as theWaldes Prize and the Europol Art Award), and his works have been presented at prestigious auction houses including Sotheby’s and Christie’s. He currently teaches at the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague and lives in Prague.