Robert Gabris

Holder of Jindřich Chalupecký Award 2021

„Robert Gabris shows interest in excluded groups and queer corporeality confronted by the norms and limitations of majority society. Using traditional media such as drawing overlapping with performance and installation, he addresses the complexity of his own identities – sexual, geographical and national.“ (jury statement)

Robert Gabris (1986, Hnúšťa, SK) studied scenography at the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava and continued his MA studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna. He works in the medium of drawing often overlapping with installation and performance. In his mostly autobiographic work, he often addresses the theme of identity politics. He is interested in excluded groups and queer corporeality confronted by the norms and limitations of majority society. To him, experimental drawing is a form of resistance towards racism and other forms of (social) exclusion. Gabris presented his work primarily in the Central European context as well as in Riga and Shanghai. In the past years, he has exhibited his work on the Czech art scene, e.g. at Biennale Matter of Art, Artivist Lab (2019) and the Moravian Gallery in Brno (2017).