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Martin Gabriel
  • [Download as PDF](CV2021.pdf

born in Prague, Czech Republic based in The Hague, Netherlands

Studies
  • 2015 – BA. Fine Arts, Royal Academy of Art, The Hague
  • 2011-12 - Europian voluntering service - Duisburg, Germany
  • 2010 - High school of applied arts,design of furniture, Prague
Stipendium
  • 2020 - ProInvest subsidy - Stroom, The Hague
  • 2019 - Mentoring stipendium with Jelle Bouwhuis - Mondriaan Fonds
  • 2018 - Stipendium for emerging artist – Mondriaan Fonds
  • 2016-19 - Various project grants - Stroom, The Hague
In Collection
  • VKR holding collection – since 2016 (Denmark)
Exhibitions
2021

How to Make coconut into everything – group show, Trixie, Den Haag (NL) Partisan mission – duo show with Katerina Gabriel Konarovska, Willem Twee, Den Bosh (NL) *Garden of stars – group show, sculptor garden, Den Haag (NL)

2020

*escape room – group show, Stroom Den Haag, Den Haag (NL)

2019
  • Through the walls - group show, Czech Center/Goethe Institute, Rotterdam (NL)
  • Girls, Girls, Girls and Boys – group show, Broumov (CZ)
  • Tijdgenoten #7: Klas 1B – group show, De School, Amsterdam (NL)
  • Avre – Multimedia one night show, Ruimtevaart Stichting, Den Haag (NL)
  • Intake – group show, Quartair, Den Haag (NL)
  • Prospects and concepts – group show, Art Rotterdam - Van Nelle fabriek, Rotterdam (NL)
2018
  • Future Farmers festival – group show, alphen aan de Rijn (CZ)
  • IDDQD – group show, Holesovicka Sachta, Prague (CZ)
  • Idle waterfall – solo show, Pavilon, Prague (CZ)
  • Technology in your bed, Pip Expo – duo show with Katerina Konarovska, PIP-warehouse, Den Haag (NL)
  • Non-Beton Place – Solo show, The Balcony, Den Haag (NL)
2017
  • Turn Back Time – group show, Maurits van de Laar, den Haag (NL)
  • Internet Café, Patty Morgan – Group show, Arles photo festival, Arles (FR)
  • Internet Café, Patty Morgan – Group show, Foam, Amstrdam (NL)
  • Leak – Solo exhibition, Moose Space (project: space XVII), Den Haag (NL)
  • Budvar Young Art Event #1 – Group Exhibition, Nest, Den Haag (NL)
2016
  • Pip Expo, patty morgan internet cafe – group exhibition, PiP, Den Haag (NL)
  • VKR holding 75 anniversary – group exhibition, head quarts, Hørsholm (DNK)
  • Patty Morgen Internet Caffe - group exhibition, PIP, Den Haag (NL)
  • Exchanging Intimacies – group exhibition, 1435/mm Nakladove Nadrazi, Prague(CZ)
  • Exchanging Intimacies - group exhibition, Quartair, Den Haag (NL)
  • Onder De Hammer – group exhibition, De Besturing, Den Haag (NL)
  • DesignKwartier – group exhibition, outdoor Piet Hein Plain, Den Haag(NL)
  • Jong Talent – group exhibition, De Bijl, Zoersel (BE)
  • Jong Talent – group exhibition, Pastorij, Malle (BE)
  • Belofte – group exhibition, Kunstliefde, Utrecht (NL)
2015
  • Now or never #3 – group exhibition, Gem, The Hague (NL)
  • Masters Salon 2015 – group exhibition, Academy of fine art in Antwerp (BE)
  • Video Art Tweede Kamer – Show of one video, Tweede Kamer der Staten-Generaal(Cafeteria), The Hague (NL)
  • Hoogtij #42 – Martin Gabriel and Katerina Konarovska, Noordwall 117, The Hague (NL)
  • Graduation exhibition KABK 2015 – group exhibition, The Hague (NL)
  • Quote me if I'm wrong - Group show, Spaces, Den Haag, The Netherlands (review Jegens and Tevens AND Mister Motley )
2014
  • No one gets angry - Group show, Minerva Art Academy, Groningen, The Netherlands
2013
  • Pulchery – The Hague, Graphic Bienale, Netherland
2012
  • Fridland in czech - Town hall gallery, Pictures of Martin Gabrieand Katerina Konarovska
2009
  • Klub The Underground- Karlin, Prague, czech
Publication
  • 2018 - exhibition review (czech) Martin Fric - IDDQD
  • 2017 - VKR 75 aniversery - video interview
  • 2017 - Moose space - space XVII - video interview
  • 2015 - GameScene - art in the age of videogames - work review
  • 2015 - Quote me if I'm wrong - Review Jegens and Tevens AND Mister Motley
2022-23
Reliefs

Reliefs is my on going research of drawing with 3D Printer. The spaces are inspired by videgame space mainly from the iconic game Q3A

_2022-23
cca 60x60x8 cm
PLA Plastic and pigments

2022
Reliefs

Reliefs is my on going research of drawing with 3D Printer. The spaces are inspired by videgame space mainly from the iconic game Q3A

_2022-23
cca 60x60x8 cm
PLA Plastic and pigments

Drawings

Drawing of textures I will be using in my projects

I started to draw them begining 2022 while I cannot be that often in my atelier.

I use pencil drawings because its uninvasive and easy to take with when on trip.

2021
Metaversum

This is a large installation partly made out of existing works that I also consider autonomous works in this form. I gave the works context to enable them to communicate easier with the public. It's a semi-modular interactive sculpture that is inspired by the aesthetics of quickly built VR experiences that used to come up in the past recent years. This phenomenon of 3D semi interactive experiences has occurred momentarily after VR headsets started to be available to the public. I found this physical version of such a VR experience as a fitting format for manifestation of my thought on the mythology of neoliberalism. This work is semi-modular and therefore can take different shapes and forms; it will also grow in size in the future.

2021- ∞
4.5x3x1.5m
Mixed media, water and light

Katerina

Portrait of Katerina
This work is a research into a reduction of form and therefore content of object. By reducing the amount of polygons of the shape it becomes abstract and and less recongnizable. While the image and texture retains its detail. The work is a qoute to how we portrait ourselves in the online world and its atempt to use the digital language in sculptural portait.

2021
Life size (40x50x35cm)
paper on PLA.

Q3A TM7

relief from the series of reliefs called the videogame memories. I started this series in 2020 where i remake famouse places from multiplayer online games. This is a place from Quake 3 Arena.

The project aims to create a memorium to places that has been seen by milions over and over again, yet they would normaly not be given the significants they actualy hold for cetain group of people.

2021
40x42cm
Pigment and metal on PLA

Q3A DM1

relief from the series of reliefs called the videogame memories. I started this series in 2020 where i remake famouse places from multiplayer online games. This is a place from Quake 3 Arena.

The project aims to create a memorium to places that has been seen by milions over and over again, yet they would normaly not be given the significants they actualy hold for cetain group of people.

2021
47x47cm
Pigment and metal on PLA

The bridge to slaughter house

relief from the series of reliefs called the videogame memories. I started this series in 2020 where i remake famouse places from multiplayer online games. This is a place from Quake 3 Arena.

The project aims to create a memorium to places that has been seen by milions over and over again, yet they would normaly not be given the significants they actualy hold for cetain group of people.

2021
40x42cm
Pigment and metal on PLA

2020
GM #489

Small scale sculpture reflecting the grind behind becoming a Grand Master in a videogame. During this complicated and time consuming process the player is truly dedicating part of his/her life to a seemingly worthless achievement. GM 489 is a statue to those who tried and eventually realised that path goes nowhere. The inspiration is drawn from a moment in 2018 when Blizzard announced the end of support for professional scene of Heroes of the Storm and I had the opportunity to watch many professional streamers and you-tube constant creators woke up from a day dream.

2020
70x22x22 cm
fabric, clay and acrylic paint on PLA

Tiny Conqeror

Relief depicting a small man on a conquest of achievement unaware of his arrival to the well of healing.

2020
84x144cm
raw pigment on PLA

Landscapes

Digital landscapes that I made thru out last few years, now printed on silk.

2020
Digital print on silk

Titan

The Titan on his way to the future

2020
inks on PLA plastic

Pluto the God

Relief

2020
37x44
Pigment, inks and clay on PLA

Prooving Ground

This relief is inspired by a place in Quake 3 Arena, this place or image has stuck in my head sice very young age. Therefore i had the urge to make it into a painting/relief to imortalize it.

2020
112x62
acrylic on PLA and fiber glass.

Venus the God

relief and painting together

2020
37x70cm
acrylic and clay on canvas and PLA

2019
OmegaLUL

This is a mid size sculpture of a human figure created through 3-D printing, and spray-paint. It represents a humble man who is lost and by circumstances forced to grab guns and go fight for his life; at the same time he is a player, a game avatar, depicted humorously aiming straight into the wall. One switches identity during gameplay: from a humble, boring person to hero full of attitude. The texts and words that cover this figure are typical for video-game chats. The figure is lost between two worlds, two personalities, reality and virtual reality. He/she is replacing the goals for those from the video-game but physically still remaining in reality

2019
70x60x50cm
paint on PLA and MDF.

Google Earth Travels

This is a series of “photos” taken from Google Earth travels. Google Earth 1.0 was launched in 2005, with the idea to create a 3D globe by using Sketch-up software where individual people and companies would fill in the globe’s surface. This project was changed in 2017 to Google Earth 2.0, in which all the old 3D models are being replaced by new models based on trigonometrical scanning of the globe. In this series I wanted to pay tribute to those who built the world themselves and save some of the most interesting models I found.

2018-2019
9x16 cm each
Series of 16 digital color print on photo paper, framed
the series as shown in the Goethe Institute, Rotterdam
all the images are taken from google earth

Streamers in Conversation

On the occasion of a performance event at Future Farm Festival, I cut out the face-cams of game streamers from twich.tv, and streamed that during the event. Together the faces create a random conversation among the streamers drawn from their endless monomaniac monologues on the web. As such the work reflects the endless and pointless stream of information we are exposed to on daily basis.

2018
installation and video stream
computer, chair, mess on the table and online video stream.
(Screen shot of video documentation, and display of installation at Prospects and Concepts)

Fountain of healing

This sculpture depicts a secret well, guarded by statues, all in a classical vein. Whereas in mythology a well is often interpreted as a source of knowledge and wisdom, in video-games it is often related to regenerating health. In this sculpture, the well is guarded by four self-designed mythological figures that inspired by the visual language of games yet each representing a pressing social expectation spurred by neo-liberalism: Wealth, Obedience, Knowledge and Beauty.
The sculpture while on display during Prospects and Concepts (Art Rotterdam). While looking at the sculpture one is attracted to come closer and look into the well and see a tunnel with light at the end. It is the suggestion of stretching space or two colliding worlds.

2019
160x50x50 cm
light, paint on ABS and MDF.

Green_Key v2.0

This is an interactive sculpture, a variant on the previous one. The user can activate it by touching the (expressively decorated) metal parts in the stand and it will create screaming sounds and light the key inside. Compared to the previous one, this sculpture is more artistically reworked and more enigmatic.

2019
160x50x65
paint on wood and modeling plaster, acrylic, light, sound and motor oil

Green_Key v0.1

This is an interactive sculpture. The user can activate it by touching the metal parts of the structure, which will then boast screaming sounds and lighting the key inside. In this sculpture I explore the topic of keys as a collectable item in video games. It is an introspective work. Regardless of the exhibition where it is exposed, it holds its own inner space and logic; touching it is actually a challenge, as it looks a bit spooky. Yet one is rewarded by touching it: the sculpture screams back at you while it uncovers its secret part. The work incorporates the idea of suffering for reward.

2019
220x60x60
acrylic, light, electronics, paper and paint on MDF

2018
Gate_NextLevel

These pictures document my contribution in the IDDQD group exhibition in Prague. In this small-scaled sculpture I dig into the vanitas rhetoric so ubiquitous in art history, and in games. This piece refers to the old but iconic game Doom that uses the image of a skull for tokens with which one can open virtual doors. In the context of video-games, matters of death and after-death are reduced to a simple re-spawn or restart.

2018
36x50x45
light, mist, paint on ABS and MDF

Four Seasons

series of small sculptures that visualised the endless virtual landscape of social media network. Social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Youtube are spreading around our everyday life and filling increasingly more virtual space in the daily life. In this work I address this new phenomenon in simple effect where the landscape spreads through the semitransparent glass the closer you get so see it. The viewer/consumer is invited to for ever wonder through the four seasons of never changing reality.

2018
210x25x25
semitransparent mirro, abs plastic and mdf

Idle_Waterfall

An installation made with simple materials that put the viewer physically amidst a space that resembles a virtual space. More specifically it explores the imagination of fluid matter in digital environments. The Instalation is an abstract construction, but that at the same time depicts water floating down from a simple cube floating in the space. The inspiration comes from a video game Minecraft

2018
Installation, 400x400x300
paper on wood construction, made specifical for Pavilon - space in Prague

Nightmare

Colaborative instalation with Katerina Konarovska that reflects state of mind between vigil and dreaming. For highliting the content and visual experience I chose to work the the iconinc game Age of Empires.

2018
the exhibiton was part of PIP Expo, "technology in your bed"

Elements

series of sculptures exploring the idea of basic elements of video games. they goes as follow from the lowest to the highest of strenght: Fire, Water, Acid, and Blood. Each element is depicted in fomr of landscape and placed onto its hierarchical position.

2018
50x50x25-50-75-125
abs plastic, mist and levitation

Browser Gateway

This small-scale installation, here pictured as part of Fusion festival, Foam (Amsterdam), is made to fit into a cubical in an internet cafe. Taking a clue from (often anonymous) computer tutorials, the viewer is seduced with the possibility of knowing more about the enigmatic Deep Internet. This tutorial is very convincing, up to certain point. The video is displayed as if the computer is controlling itself, displayed next to a small and also enigmatically levitating object, and a painting.

2018
computer with video, painting and small levitating sculpture.

2017
non-betonPlace

work that was made for this show in place called Balcony in The Hague 2017

Leak

An installation made with simple materials that put the viewer physically amidst a space that resembles a virtual space. More specifically it explores the imagination of fluid matter in digital environments. The sculpture is an abstract construction, but that at the same time depicts lava floating down from a mountain in a way it can be created in the popular videogame Minecraft – even without a mountain.

2017
Installation, 400x400x300
paper on wood construction, and backdrop on walls (exhibition in Moose space, The Hague).

Andree in Superposition

This is a somewhat ironic take on my previous works dealing with space, time and superposition, and the seeming almighty power offered as gamer in a game. That position is here mingled with the real experience of a dish-washing side job that is so often the fate of an starting artist.

210x160 cm
acrylic, oil and paper on canvas in specially shaped frame

2016
Orange Key

First sculpture, sketch where I used mist as a element in my work.

2016

Human in superposition

The title of this work is inspired by quantum mechanics and the phenomenon of quantum superposition. Video games are fascinating because they unconsciously carry fundamental concepts of spirituality and science. One is of course that it puts the user/viewer in the center of the world, and/or as God. Here I used special technique of transferring laserprint on paper in many layers on the canvas.

90x60 cm
paper print on canvas

Portals

In this work I continue to reflect on digital space (ambiguous composition) and time (repetition and difference), now also introducing computer generated images on the canvas. They appear as frames, or portals. Both the picture frame in art painting and the portal in digital worlds teleport the viewer easily to another reality.

100x100 cm
acrylic, oil and paper on canvas

2015
Realm

Real was a short video game made in 2015 for exhibtion in GEM now or never #3 Unfortunately the game is not updated and therefor not playable anymore.

2015
video game

Corssroad

This is a more abstract variation of my painting that reflects on the perception, and experience, of space, objects and time in the digital environment.

110x100 cm
acrylic, oil and paper on canvas

Arena

In 2015 I started a number of paintings in which I render through painterly means aspects of space and time of video-games. In ‘Arena’ the composition reflects the spatial ambiguity of a 3-dimenional game-world on a flat computer screen, and the chronologic ambiguity of a game-in-progress under the conditions of circular time. The first through the use of collage and paint, the second through repetition and difference.

120x90 cm
acrylic, oil and paper on canvas

2014
Flat

This sculpture is a follow up of ‘Corridor’ in which I research the depiction and definition of space in the digitally created world.

2014
190x50x45 cm
metal and paint on MDF

Corridor

The photograph shows the inside of a suspended sculpture. One can peek inside through a hole that looks like a tiny door.
This my first work that deals with so-called Digital Realism. It resembles the very unique element that can only be found in digitally created spaces: the endless, undefined space that surrounds everything else that is defined.

2014
26x24x120cm
light, paint on MDF

  • Download as PDF

The Czech republic went through a lot of changes in the 1990s and I grew up amidst the introduction of capitalism in the country. In general, my work still reflects that experience, as it revolves around the social pressures of today. I became specifically intrigued by the internet and video games, and was captivated by the strange world of digital possibilities. After high school – where I acquired some design skills – I did voluntary work in Germany and attended art and theatre workshops. After that, I studied Fine Art at the Royal Academy in The Hague.

I started off with painting, researching the qualities of the flat surface and suggestions of space. From painting and collage I developed sculptural work. I work with, and respond to, the visual aesthetics of video/internet-games. Gradually I started to reflect on other aspects of the game world, such as its primal religious dimension, its seductive incitements, its fetishism, and the obsessiveness. My sculptures became less formally restricted, indeed more playful themselves.

Now I use various media, including digital media and aspects of programming, however I am an artist in the first place who responds artistically to the important popular phenomenon of the gaming world: through materiality, physical spaces, and a sense of sociability. I use the strangeness, seductiveness and obtrusiveness of gaming that is so present in daily live as a signifier of what I perceive as a global social crises. Gaming language, symbols, depictions and environments are appropriated from a (our) spiritual past. I use these aspects reversely, and creatively, to reflect on the confusion and loss, in what I improvisationally call ”digital realism”. Digital realism is in my opinion work that realistically approaches digital forms. It should not be confused with realistic images made in digital medium.

I’ve participated in art exhibitions and in spaces not dedicated to fine art alone, including the internet. I’m aware of post-internet art and the aesthetic powers of the gaming industry itself. However, I develop an artistic language that doesn’t fit neither of these categories, and want to pursue that further.

  • info(at)martingabriel.info