Lukáš Karbus

"Lukáš Karbus impressed the jurors by his personal narrative and use of colors. In his watercolors, he is establishing new ways of dealing with the traditional landscape genre and systematic order, from abstraction to representation." (jury statement)

Lukáš Karbus (*1981) graduated from the Studio of Painting of the Faculty of Fine Arts at Brno University of Technology. To a large degree, his work has been influenced by country life and work, which are miles away from the urban art scene in which the artist participates rather symbolically, through sporadic yet remarkable exhibitions at larger institutions as well as alternative spaces in the Czech Republic. Karbus’ large-size watercolor paintings deviate from current trends; which might be the very quality that endows them with their urgency. Their aesthetic character seems to respond to the modernist movements on one hand while being loosely guided by the observation of the landscape and simple life bordering on spiritual or even psychedelic visions on the other hand. Representing traditional qualities of beauty and craft, they are attractive for their sophisticated nature as well as a certain dose of naivety.