The title of the exhibition, Sehnsucht, which refers to a longing for something that has not yet disappeared but is inevitably fading away, captures the artist’s emotional experience while creating the works in this series.

The exhibition presents a cross-section of Patrik Kriššák’s work from 2020 to the present and opens up a space for interpreting his painting as a process in which rationality clashes with unpredictability. The artist works with analytical methods, yet at the same time allows chance to enter the painting—a chance he does not seek to eliminate, but rather to cultivate. This tension reflects his inspiration from the ideas of conceptual artist Sol LeWitt, according to whom irrational impulses should be followed decisively and logically.

The work of Patrik Kriššák took shape at a time when the legitimacy of painting was the subject of intense debate in the world of contemporary art. His studies under Daniel Balabán at the Faculty of Arts in Ostrava led him to seek a position that would not deny painting but rather expand its possibilities. Paradoxically, the artist responds to the “crisis of painting” through non-painterly techniques that are close to graphic expression and emphasize the physical act in the creative process. His paintings are created in direct relation to the body, its possibilities, and its limits.

The pandemic brought about a fundamental transformation in his artistic style, as the artist’s attention turned to existential questions that transcend individual experience. The environmental crisis does not manifest in his work as a moralizing appeal, but as a quiet narrative that leaves interpretation up to the viewer. Kriššák observes a process of gradual disappearance—a transformation that is subtle yet irreversible. It is precisely this theme that the artist focuses on through the motif of coral, which recurs almost obsessively in his work. Here, coral reefs serve as a universal symbol of fragility and the slow depletion of natural resources. They thus become a metaphor for an ecosystem whose state reflects the overall condition of the planet.

curator: Mira Macík