FOR MAAT Brussels – Aleš Porubský

The train, 240x170cm, oil on canvas, 2025

Aleš Porubský is from Dubnica nad Váhom. He studied in the Drawing and Graphics Studio at the Faculty of Fine Arts, Brno University of Technology, and is currently in the final year of his Master's degree at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague (AVU), in Painting Studio II, led by Július Reichel, Milan Mikuláštík and Aleš Zapletal.

In my work, I focus on the fusion and tension between contrasting poles, such as innocence and morbidity, humor and seriousness, fluidity and stasis. Through pictorial strategies, I aim to capture transitional and ambivalent states of being that resist clear verbal definition. My work is grounded in the reflection of personal experience and self-psychologization, through which I also engage with themes of mythology. These approaches are thematically unified under the concept of Emo Optimism, which functions as a conceptual framework for my practice.

The Street Gallery FOR MAAT Brussels is realized in cooperation with the Embassy of the Slovak Republic in Brussels, the Trenčín-based platform FOR MAAT, and Trenčín 2026 – European Capital of Culture.

The project partner is BRIGHT.