Exhibition: Daniel Balabán - Rebelion
Balabán is a painter of essence, whose gaze moves towards man and his essence, he is a painter of life. His work has a solid foundation in the “new figuration”, but it would be a mistake to think that the period of normalization, in which the artist lived a large part of his life, did not influence him. Even though Balabán is not a committed artist in the true sense of the word, his work reflects a kind of inner commitment. New figuration cannot be understood as a historical artistic direction or a fixed artistic program that the artist should follow, but is rather a unique expression of a person embedded in his time.
Exhibition: Daniel Balabán - Rebelion
Balabán is not interested in how a person looks, but in what they feel, what they live by, what their values are and what is the meaning of their life. His paintings are based on existentialism, theology and philosophy. For me, Balabán's work resembles the work of Francis Bacon in its ferocity and seriousness. However, the seriousness of Bacon's themes is compensated by a certain irony or grotesque, which has a significant place in the Czech artistic environment, which also defines him in relation to the contemporary world art scene.
If we wanted to talk about Balabán's characteristic handwriting, it would not be entirely easy. Each individual theme carries with it its own, distinctive form. Even though Balabán does not avoid techniques or forms other than painting from time to time and creates sculptures, for example, we can characterize him as a painter faithful to the brush. We can admire the lightness and simplicity of his painting in all his works, regardless of when they were created. For him, painting is not a pleasing design – which is the most common form of expression today – but a means by which he, as an artist, takes responsibility for a figure that runs through the entire history of culture. The depiction of the human figure is as old as man himself. Records of it date back to prehistoric times, whether in the form of drawings on cave walls or small statuettes of Venus. The human figure here is the bearer of emotions and gesture is an opinion. In our lives around us every day, we see various everyday situations and many unique and unrepeatable, but also routine things and matters take place before us, which take on a new meaning and form of communication in Daniel Balabán’s paintings.
It can be said without exaggeration that, together with the German Neue Wilde and the Italian transavantgarde, Balabán co-creates the current form of postmodern painting. In my opinion, these postmodern tendencies are also what the youngest generation of artists should follow if their work is not to fall into a meaningless manner. I consider Balabán's art to be pure, unlike the calculated work of artist-designers.
Exhibition duration: 21. 11. 2024 — 16. 1. 2025 reservations: praguehouse@praha.eu
Our Venue
Where
Prague House