Inhale, Exhale… When painter Patrik Hábl creates his abstract mountain landscapes, he attempts to understand the breathing exercises of calligraphic painting, so that the paint on the canvas is layered in regular, meditative rhythms while movement is simultaneously maintained within the images. He chose the same technique six years ago for the painting Blue Landscapes, which was auctioned last April at the British auction house Sotheby’s for £6,875 (CZK 204,139). Its working title is Mountain in the Rain and it was created on the basis of the artist’s travels through Japan and China. There exists a traditional theory of painting in these countries that counts among its main principles and rules the connection and interpenetration of the life energy qi. It passes through the work and gives it movement and life. This is more than evident in Hábl’s paintings.
About the Grand Finale of this auction, Patrik Hábl says:
“It could be compared to a hockey match. I have never followed such auctions before, but during this auction I was receiving information from colleagues and friends about how I was doing. When they called me from the media in the finale to ask what the final amount was, I confirmed £3,800 (CZK 112,833). But I had no idea that this was not true and that the biggest auction battle was only just beginning…”
However, it does not end with the painting Blue Landscapes. Proof of this was his next auction record, which he recently achieved by selling his painting Black and White Landscape at Christie’s auction house (for £16,250) (CZK 482,511), and another auction is apparently still being prepared.
Painter Patrik Hábl is currently a very sought-after artist. And fortunately also very creative… Thanks to this, we can look forward to many of his works planned for the near future. For example, a large-scale painting is supposed to be created – a 21 m high installation tailored for KGVU in Zlín. As part of the upcoming Landscape Festival, it will be a monumental entrance into public space in Prague, and within the same festival an exhibition will take place in Krnov already during June. The exhibition at the Broumov Monastery is supposed to open in the autumn. From October to December he will exhibit at the New Gallery in Prague, and in November and December at the House of Art in Opava. Everything, however, depends on how the situation around the coronavirus pandemic will develop.
Text: Renáta Chalupová, Telegraph Gallery
