Jakub Hubálek

Bio

Jakub Hubálek (*1983) is a graduate of the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague (2004–2010, drawing, prof. Jitka Svobodová), Jakub Hubálek creates paintings made on the basis his foundation in drawing, a tendency that is reflected in a fundamental tension between an inclination towards black-and-white (or monochrome) painting and towards distinctive narratives that often abandon the external level of painted illusion in order to model and transform the painting’s very visual vocabulary. This, in fact, is the reason for the frequent presence of new shapes in his work, which reflect subconscious situations requiring the combination of memory, recollections, and their reassessment from a contemporary viewpoint. Hubálek’s paintings often recall old family photographs characterized by an anonymous, impersonal, or vexing memory. Hubálek often works with open-ended gestures and intimations. He gives the form room for possible future movement. He himself exists on the boundary between figuration and abstract art. In 2020, Trafo Gallery published a book on the occasion of his eponymous exhibition Black and White Summer.