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Filip Drábek (*1993), an artist based in Prague, is a graduate of the Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Bratislava, where he studied photography and new media. His artistic practice is multidisciplinary and includes collaborations with major institutions, including Vogue CS. His abstract expressionist paintings are characterized by a combined technique of automatic drawing and painting with an emphasis on capturing everyday subjects. The paintings are based on experiences and events, which he captures on canvas in the form of visual diaries. Each of his works represents a kind of sketch of the month, a monthly chronicle, where he records not only everyday themes, but also major events that occurred during a certain period of time.
Each canvas is born gradually, day by day, as Filip physically merges with his work – lying on the canvas and using his hands and feet to create marks that reflect not only the time spent on the work, but also the intensity and energy expended during the process of creation itself. This technique brings the viewer closer to the dynamism and spontaneity of the artist’s work and offers a unique insight into the duration and process of the creation of each piece. Drábek’s work is thus not only a visual but also a physical record of the artist’s personal history.
The exhibition “Diary of Visual Poetry” presents these diaries, where everyday situations and significant events collide on the canvas, such as the funeral of Alexey Navalny, the rejection of UFOs by the Pentagon, or the 25th anniversary of the Czech Republic’s entry into NATO. Each work is a unique visual poetry that reflects the artist’s emotions and the events that shaped his perception of the period.
Aneta Kaprálová, curator