Robert Bielik (Omnia et nihil)

Robert Bielik’s (1963) solo exhibition is his first presentation in Nitra Gallery’s Representative Halls. The artist is not convinced of his immortality we as people like to believe in. On the other hand, he realises his human finiteness and admits it publicly through his paintings. He uses painting as a means of meditation on ephemerality. The painter’s fantasised, hypothetically absurd simulations (in the sense of “what if…”) fascinate and provoke. However, the most real things in the world are the most absurd ones. Man is full of expectations that restrict his freedom of mind and body. Our personal frustrations denounce us from ourselves and isolate us from the possibility of living a full life. What is a full life? Fulfilling our spiritual, material or physical needs? Or is it much more complicated, or, on the other hand, more simple? Would it not be enough to live our lives and die without getting angry at ourselves or the world? 

The artist leads a technological dialogue with historical painting which is often inspired by photographies and lives his own (artistic) life which is independent from the rest of the art scene. He depicts people from his life who are important to him, but he also reminds us of death (and pre-terminal moments) and the necessity of coping with it, he frees himself from (in)finiteness. His depictions of seas, forests and animals evoke a silent tension which is so typical for humans.

The artist prefers to be alone as an observer of his own internal movements. From 1987 to 1993, he studied at the Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Bratislava (under R. Sikora). He taught at Constantine the Philospher University in Nitra. He has written twelve books, the last one (The Field of View of Darkness) was published in the winter of 2019. His writing supplements the narrative of his paintings.