Petr Nikl / Herbarium

The exhibition presents an open series of recent experimental paintings by Petr Nikl, with a focus on his contemporary production. Specifically, it features mixed-media works on canvas and large-format Asian rice paper, made using India ink, coffee, and dry pigments. In these works, Nikl works with the principles of controlled and spontaneous painting to produce something between abstract images and loose typologies of the human face. Each painting's theme is left unspoken, hinted at through symmetrical structures that allow for a broad range of associative interpretations.

Thematically, the exhibition explores the relationship between the image and its perception, between form and its destabilization. Working with the principles of visual uncertainty, it allows for introspective and culturally conditioned interpretations. The paintings are not the result of a predefined approach but are made via a variable, intuitive process shaped by the artist's actions and the physical and material characteristics of the medium. The ambiguous and variable nature of the “faces” may reflect the viewers' own projections, which reveal more about them than a reflection in a mirror.

Exhibition curator: Radek Wohlmuth