Born in Slovakia in 1986, Robert Gabris works and lives in Vienna. He graduated from the Academy for Applied Arts in Bratislava in 2010 and received a postgraduate diploma from the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts in 2014.
“I describe the content of my work as a critical confrontation with identity issues, especially confrontations of different groups, excluded from society. The starting point of my work deals with new experimental forms of drawing as resistance to exclusion and racism.”
Gabris’ work shows constant interest in diverse and convertible identity, the queer body and its existence, which is possessed in different physical and mental bodies, in relation to normative society and its boundaries. The artist’s strategy is visual empowerment. His medium of choice is conceptual drawing and its experimental implementation, the de-construction of forms and the quest to push all possible limits. Robert Gabris’ works are mostly autobiographical, imagined as a constant and obsessive hunt for exact proportions and symmetry.
Biography
Born 1986 in Hnusta Likier, Slovakia.
Lives and works in Vienna, Austria.
Education
2014
Academy of fine Arts Vienna (AT)
2010
Academy of performing Arts in Bratislava (SK)
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2023 This Space Is Too Small For Our Bodies, Belvedere21, Vienna (AT) Bodyshop, Gregor Podnar, Vienna (AT)
2022
White Cinema, Museum of Romani Culture, Brno (CZ)
2021
Inventing Human: Sketches, Strabag Kunstforum, Vienna (AT)
Insectopia – Solo Performance, ViennaContemporary, Belvedere 21, Vienna (AT)
Insectopia, Galerie Za Galerii, Hradec Kralove (CZ)
Insectopia, Villa Romana, Florence (IT)
2020
My Country, My Blood!, Sopa Gallery, Kosice (SK)
2019
Cyberlove, Artivist Lab, Prague (CZ)
Daydreams, Gandy Gallery, Bratislava (SK)
2018
Fragmente, Bildraum 07, Vienna (AT)
2017
The Sewingroom, Gallery8, Budapest (HU)
Lucky patern, Volkskundemuseum, Vienna (AT)
The forest, vicino-lontano festival, Bunker del Castello di Udine, Udine (IT)
The Sewingroom, Gallery Lokomotiv, Örnsköldsvik (SVE)
2016
13 portraits for human rights, FRA, Vienna (AT)
Herzblut, Akademie Graz, Graz (AT)
2015
The Dream, Collective by Pure, Shanghai (CHN)
2013
Abbilder, Amerlinghaus, Vienna (AT)
Selected Group Exhibitions
2023
Gestures Of Affection, Neue Galerie, Innsbruck (AT) Unruly Kinships, Temporary Gallery, Cologne (DE)
2022
Brave World, Telegraph Gallery, Olomouc (CZ)
Actually, The Dead Are Not Dead, Total Museum, Seoul (KOR)
Beyond nuclear Family, The Elisabeth Foundation For The Arts, New York (USA)
New Entry. Vienna, Gregor Podnar Gallery, Vienna (AT)
Curated by, Wonnerth Dejaco, Kilobase Bucharest, Vienna (AT)
Material Nation, Urania Berlin (DE)
One Day We Shall Celebrate Again – Off Biennale Budapest 7 Documenta Fifteen, Kasel (DE)
Wesen & Kreaturen, Rotor Graz (AT)
Whiteness as Property, Künstlerhaus Wien, Vienna (AT)
2021
Actually, The Dead Are Not Dead 3, Würtembergischer Kunstverrein, Stuttgart (DE)
Miznuce Telo, Schaubmarov Mlyn SNG, Pezinok (SK)
Sofia Queer Forum, Roma Queer, SAMCA, Sofia (BG)
CJCH Awardshow, Moravska Galeria, Brno (CZ)
Zlínský salon mladých 2021, Země pod nohama, Zlin (CZ)
Talking Hands, Jan Koniarek Gallery, Trnava (SK)
Resist!, Rautenrausch Joest Museum, Cologne (DE)
To Be Like Water, Tent Rotterdam (NL)
Strabag International Art AwardShow, Vienna (AT)
2020
Una forma de ser, Würtembergischer Kunstverrein, Stuttgart (DE)
Matter of Art, Biennale, Prague (CZ)
Natural Bodies & Organic Genders, A4, Bratislava (SK)
Performing the Museum – Online Exhibition, Eriac, Berlin (DE)
Actually, the Dead are Not Dead, Würtembergischer Kunstverrein, Stuttgart (DE)
2019
Young Art Auction, Kunstraum Nestroyhof, Vienna (AT)
Keres Kultura, Central Gallery, Banska Bystrica (SK)
Actually, the Dead are Not Dead, Bergen Assembly, Kunsthall Bergen (NOR)
Cyberlove, Art queer space Vienna, Kunsthalle Exnergasse, Vienna (AT)
2018
Cyberlove, Queer Stories, Tranzit Gallery, Bratislava (SK)
Invisible Museum, Galerie Tranzit, Bratislava, Vienna Contemporary, Vienna (AT)
The blue Heart / Peace, Österreichisches Kultulturforum Bratislava (SK)
Sukar, German Foreign Mission, New York (USA)
The blue Heart / Peace, AkBild, Vienna (AT)
The Forest, Eriac, Berlin (DE)
2017
AEM, Avu Gallery, Prague (CZ)
Anatomical Landscape, Moravian Gallery, Brno (CZ)
Hypodens, Burggasse 21, Vienna (AT)
The blue Heart, Vorarlberg Museum, Bregenz (AT)
Drawing from the future, Salon für Kunstbuch im 21er Haus, Vienna (AT)
2016
Food for everyone, Kali Berga, Ksiegarnia Wystawa, Krakow (PL)
Two portraits in etching, Auktion Kunstücke, Bildraum 7, Vienna (AT)
Premio Combat Prize, Museo G. Fattori, Livorno (IT)
The blue Heart, Romane Thana, Landesgalerie Eisenstadt (AT)
The blue Heart / Ghosts of the civil Dead, Gallery Tranzit, Bratislava (AT)
Interactive Installation “Spettacolo Barocco”, Theatermuseum Vienna (AT)
2015
We are all looking for Astronauts, WE Art HUB / Shanghai (CHN)
I songi che Volano, Data Gallery, Urbino (IT)
Family / Have a look in to my Life, Bucharest (RO)
The blue Heart, Romane Thana, Wien Museum, Vienna (AT)
2014
Cigan Mucha, Jaw Dikh JCC Cetrum, Krakow (PL)
Kunstasyl, Semperdepot, Vienna (AT)
Family / Have a look into my Life, Fnast, Paris (FR)
Self portrait, AMG Gallery, Vienna (AT)
Family / Have a look into my Life, Graz Museum (AT)
Family / have a look into my Life, Strasbourg (FR)
Death, Diploma exhibition, Academy of fine Arts Vienna (AT)
ARTIST IN RESIDENCE
2022
MeetFactory, Prague (CZ)
2021
Kair Kosice, Kosice (SK)
2020
Villa Romana, Florence (IT)
2017
Gallery8, Budapest (HU)
Lokomotiv, Örnsköldsvik (SWE)
2016
Jaw Dikh – Czarna Gora (PL)
2015
Swatch art peace hotel in Shanghai (CHN)
International art Colony in Trebinje (BIH)
2014
Copper engraving in the Stamperia d’arte Albicocco, Udine (IT)
Jaw Dikh – Czarna Gora (PL)
Awards
2022
Belvedere 21 Art Award, Vienna (AT)
2021
STRABAG Artaward International / Recognition Prize / Vienna (AT)
Jindřich Chalupecký Award / Brno (CZ)