Gregor Podnar is pleased to announce the solo presentation of Robert Gabris at this years second edition of SPARK Vienna.
The series presented will unfold a fictional speculation of the genesis of the artist's self. Gabris imagines the origin of bodies in the universe as a big bang. An event which joins different body parts together, but they are not connected permanently. It is another definition of order, a playful interplay of different momentary states, a process of becoming. Gabris uses the mystical concept of "order and nature of the cosmos" from the Greek philosopher Empedocles as a reference for his drawings at the fair. Empedocles' theories of cosmos and the body describe for Gabris the origin and formation of fluid identities.
In the second part of his project, Gabris engages with human and animal body parts which he deems to not have been drawn well enough. These Broken Drawings have become an archive in his storage drawers, which he calls "drawings with potential." Gabris fuses together new body shapes that emerge completely in unexpected dimensions, proportions and anatomical principles. Here Gabris claims that a body is not static. On the contrary, it is in constant changeable motion without spatial and temporal definition.
Born in 1986 in Hnusta Likier, Slovakia, Robert Gabris lives and works in Vienna. He has been included in numerous solo and group exhibitions at international galleries and museums including, Rautenrausch Joest Museum, Cologne (2021); Strabag Kunstforum, Vienna (2021); Vorarlberg Museum, Bregenz (2017); Volkskundemuseum, Vienna (2017); Wien Museum (2015); Graz Museum (2014).