Petr Bařinka’s main focus is the world of comics, video games, and design. All these themes are linked by reflections of contemporary pop culture, whether the works are more abstract, epic, or figurative, and they always hover between dream and reality. Through play, we find ourselves in a world of colors, shapes, traces, and codes. The combination of seemingly naive fairy-tale elements with more serious themes evokes unsettling visions and fantasies. This materialized dream and daydreaming is the result of the artist’s state of mind—a spiritual experience that defies rational explanation.

Other elements in Petr Bařinka’s work include precise geometric patterns—as a representation of the concrete natural world—and vector paintings linked to the aesthetics of video games from the 1970s and 1980s. The artist effectively complements the atmosphere of the painting with a monochromatic treatment, whether in black or brilliant gold. Petr Bařinka also employs a non-painting element—lines formed by wool yarn—and experiments with various materials and techniques; yet behind the diversity of material forms, his clearly recognizable, unmistakable style always shines through. The artist’s compelling need to create a specific work—at a specific time and in a specific place—thus opens up space for the creation of paintings that leave a lasting impression on our memory and stimulate our imagination in interpreting reality.

Petr Bařinka (*1979) studied at the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague (VŠUP) from 2000 to 2007 (under J. Šalamoun and K. Gebauer). In 2004, he was a visiting student at the Athens Academy of Arts (G. Lapaas), and from 2011 to 2015, he studied at the Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Bratislava (Prof. I. Csudai). In 2009, he won the National Gallery in Prague’s N 333 Award for artists under 33, and in 2015, he received the VIG Special Invitation Award from an international jury as part of the ESSL Art Award competition. His work is represented, among other places, in the National Gallery in Prague and in numerous private and public collections in the Czech Republic and abroad. He lives and works in Prague.

Curator: Michaela Jermanová