Bio | MILAN CHABERA

ak.mal. Milan Chabera

*1954 Prague
1969–73 Václav Hollar art and design school Prague
1973–79 Academy of Fine Arts Prague, prof. Jan Smetana

Milan Chabera is a contemporary czech painter. He exhibits regularly since 1980, has had more than 130 solo and group exhibitions at home and abroad and his paintings are presented in galleries and private collections in Europe, North America and Australia. He regularly exhibits at international art fairs such as Art Madrid, Art Frankfurt, Art Strasbourg and Art Prague and he cooperates with architects on private projects in Czech Rep., Holland and USA. Chabera’s work includes painting, drawing, illustration and objects.

'Milan Chabera has his irreplaceable line, a characteristic and original line – this line travels through the world of his paintings and it outlines the borders of new discoveries, it outlines the scale of his universe.'

PhDr. Martin Eduard Petiška

'Milan Chabera is a substantive painter, illustrator, he is an excellent figuralist.'

PhDr. Alena Hejlová

'The work of Milan Chabera is diverse in subjects and techniques, showing how to merge well-tested approaches with unique expressions, which are based on traditional values but speak to a contemporary audience.'

PhDr. Jiří Machalický

‘Milan Chabera is devoted to painting, graphics, illustration and innovative sculpture work. His figurative paintings belong to the realm of expressive figure painting. His painting is based on a new type of precision that represents the experience and emotion of the modern man in our age that is both gruesome and optimistic. Chaos and order – those are the two essential elements of Milan Chabera, an enclosed, thinking and concentrated painter.

His painting is an immediate result of a direct struggle – struggle of moods and reflections of the mind – that bring with it the most diverse impulses and contradictory aims. Chabera goes to record his own life experience, but through his work he gives it a much higher general meaning. His swirly exaggerated paintings are touching us, they attract us and enrich us. We believe them, as they are about us.’

PhDr. Radan Wagner

‘Milan Chabera – the student of professor Smetana – paints paintings that capture relationships between people in various times and stages. Human characters are set into their natural environments, they are portrayed on streets or in an interior, in agreement, in an understanding or in a conflict. The painter takes inspiration from daily life and random passer-bys. He observes with great interest the lives of other people including their problems, difficulties and their happiness and success. He is fascinated by different characters and goes to observe their typical features that differentiate them, unite them or make them stand out. The immediate moment is his key interest as he always exactly captures it in the expressions in the character’s faces. Sometimes he concentrates on more specific portraits into which he projects his insight into people’s nature and uses his sense for essential shortcut. The experiences built with such psychological probes are then built up into larger compositions. The painter is also focused on the relationships between men and women and their complexity and ambiguity.

He shows that they can be influenced and eventually broken by a third person. During the years of his work Chabera develops his characteristic expression that blends in itself a great sense of hyperbole with a formulation of moods and environments. An important element in his work is the juxtaposition of attitudes, disharmonic sparkles and tensions connected with unusual moments that we experience in our lives. The facial expressions contain not only immediate responses to certain actions, but also life-long experiences that shape the character. A rough deformation of forms reveals the character and openly expresses attitudes inscribed into the face’s features. To convey his emotions of various connections and his opinion from varied social situations the painter uses a sophisticated range of color tones that give his work such temperate appeal. When needed he also accentuates color contrasts to create more drama or aggression. He finds ways to express himself efficiently, with apparent lightness but always very clearly and recognizably.

His sculptural volumes are underlined with expressive hatching patterns. Rich systems of graphical lines accompany chords of colour and sometimes even dominate the colour. The painter sculpts shapes of characters that step out of a real or imaginary space using not only brushes, but also palette-knives, spatulas or even hands. The paint work of Milan Chabera is so diverse in themes and techniques and it clearly proves that tradition and completely new ways of expression can be brought together. His work is based on traditional values but convincingly speaks to a contemporary audience.’

PhDr. Jiří Machalický

Works in collections

Czech Ministry of Culture Prague, National Gallery Prague, Regional Gallery Liberec, Rectorate of the Charles University in Prague, Municipal Gallery in Litoměřice, Czech Radio Prague, Czczecin Museum, Czech National Bank in Ústí nad labem, IPB Bank Gallery Prague, Dresdner Bank Munich, Hauk & Aufhäuser Bank Munich, Triton Gallery & Museum Santa Clara, California.

Various private collections home and abroad

Solo exhibitions (selection)

1981 Prague, V. Kramář Gallery

1988 Prague, D Gallery

1990 Munich, Cäsar Radetzky & Timm Gierig Gallery

1991 Rüsselsheim, City Museum

1991 Santa Clara – California, Triton Museum

1993 Munich, Rössler am Schlachthof Gallery

1994 Prague, Vltavín Gallery

1995 Madrid, Arco 95

1995 Berlin, Perplex Gallery

1996 Madrid, Arco 96

1996 Munich, Rössler Gallery

1996 Zürich, Spiess Gallery

1998 Prague, Vltavín Gallery

1999 Palo Alto – California, La Gallerie Internationale

1999 Innsbruck, Art Innsbruck 99

1999 Strasbourg, Art Strasbourg 99

2000 Munich, Vinizki Gallery

2002 Prague, La Femme Gallery

2003 Brandýs n./L, Chateau Gallery

2004 Munich, Thomas Hettlage Gallery – Ars Vivendi

2004 Zlín, Alternativa Gallery

2004 Brandýs n./L, Municipal Museum Praha-Východ

2004 Prague, Václav Špála Gallery – “Unexpected connotations”, anniversary show, selection from 30 years of work

2004 Frankfurt a/m., Art Depot – Pintner Gallery

2004 Zaragoza, Galería de Arte

2005 Hradec králové, Koruna Gallery

2006 Hradec králové, International Theatre Festival

2006 Zaragoza, Galería de Arte

2007 Zaragoza, Galería de Arte

2008 Luxembourg, Embassy of the Czech Republic “Small and Large Connotations”

2009 Hradec králové, Koruna Gallery

2009 Rottach-Egern, Hyna Gallery

2010 Hradec králové, International Theatre Festival, U Klicperů Gallery

2010 Hradec králové, Koruna Gallery

2010 Prague, Respirium of Lichtenstein Pallace

2011 Hluboká n/vlt., Knížecí Dvůr Gallery

2012 Prague, Golem Club – “Small and Large Connotations”

2012 Prague, Houses of Parliament of the Czech Republic – “Entrances and Escapes”

2013 Trenčín, M.A.Bazovsky Gallery

2013 Rožnov pod Radhoštěm, Crears Gallery

2013 Prague, Pavilon Gallery – “Chaos and Order”

2014 Prague, La Femme Gallery – “Milan Chabera 60”

2015 Sezimovo Ústí, Spektrum Gallery – “Small and Large Connotations”

2015 Hradec Králové, Koruna Gallery – “Small events”

2015 Prague, Palladium – “City moods”

2016 Nürnberg, Meisterstück Gallery – Art Weekend

2017 Brandýs nad Labem, Kočárovna – “Komunikace”

2017 Prague, Nová síň Gallery – “Perspektivy”

2017 Nürnberg, Meisterstück Gallery – “Beyond the ordinary”

2018 Pec Pod Sněžkou, Veselý Výlet Gallery – “Velké perspektivy”

2018 Semily, Muzeum a Pojizerská Galerie – “Velká komunikace”

2019 Mladá Boleslav, Kavárna Škoda nezajít … – “Obrazy a kresby”

2020 Brno, Art Gallery – “Evoluce”

2021 Dvůr Králové, Městské Muzeum – “Míjení”

2021 Praha, PragArtworks Gallery – “Meet the Artist”

2021 Hradec Králové, Koruna Gallery – “Ty, co potkávám”

2023 Hradec Králové, Koruna Gallery – “Za svým cílem”

Group exhibitions (selection)

1982 Cagnes-sur-mer, Art Festival

1983 Paris, Autumn Salon 83

1984 Moscow, Art Festival

1984 Warsaw, Art Festival

1984 Sczecin, Art Festival

1988 Prague, Salon 88

1993 Frankfurt a/m., Art Frankfurt 93

1994 Prague, New names (with New Association)

1995 Bristol, Art Space Bristol

1997 Prague, Mánes Gallery – Work on paper (with New Association)

1997 Prague, Vltavín Gallery – The trace of man

1998 Prague, Vyšehrad – Lugnasadh 98

2000 Pilsen, II. Central European Drawing Biennial

2002 Prague, Mánes Gallery – Art Prague 2002

2003 Rio de Janeiro, Czech Art for Brazilian Lidice – a project in collaboration with the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Embassy of Brazil in Prague and La Femme Gallery

2003 Prague, Prague Castle – Tuscany Pallace

2003 Prague, Congress Centre – Honoring the mime Marcel Marceau

2004 Montreal, General Consulate of the Czech Republic – “Czech art in Canada – Canadian art in Czech Republic” project

2004 Prague, La Femme Gallery – Venus

2004 Prague, La Femme Gallery – Milan Chabera and guests Jenny & Lisa Pfeiffer, a friendly meeting San Francisco – Prague

2004 Prague, Old Town hall – “Czech art in Canada – Canadian art in Czech Republic” project

2005 Prague, Václav Špála Gallery, “Eight painters of large formats”

2006 Prague, Mánes Gallery – Art Prague 2006

2006 Prague, Václav Špála Gallery and La Femme Gallery, “Homework and the paintings from travels”

2007 Prague, Carolinum – Art Scene 07, under the auspices of senators J. Nádvorník and T. Grulich

2008 Prague, Mánes Gallery – Art Prague

2008 La Joya, “Spain” themed exhibition of paintings and drawings

2009 Prague, Mánes Gallery – Art Prague

2010 Prague, Mánes Gallery – Art Prague

2010 Prague, La Femme Gallery – Milan Chabera and Peter Nižňanský

2011 Prague, Mánes Gallery – Art Prague

2011 Prague, La Femme Gallery – “Woman and architecture”

2011 Prague, Clam-Gallas Pallace (La Femme Gallery) – “Paintings from travels”

2012 Prague, Mánes Gallery – Art Prague

2013 Prague, Mánes Gallery – Art Prague

2013 Prague, La Femme Gallery– “Woman and fashion”

2014 Prague, Kafka’s House – Art Prague

2014 Prague, Old Town Hall (La Femme Gallery) – Honoring B. Hrabal

2015 Konstanz, 600. anniversary of Jan Hus – an exhibition in the Hus house in Kostanz, painting of “The end of a big hope”

2017 Praha, La Femme Gallery – La Dolce Vita

2018 Kutná Hora, GASK – Smetana and his students – an anniversary exhibition of prof. Jan Smetana

Special thanks for opening speeches

Arnošt Goldflam, Jan Burian (musician and poet), PhDr. Jiří Urban, Petr Nárožný, Eliška Balcerová, Tomáš Töpfer, Lenka Loubalová, Petr Brukner, Mgr.Ladislav Zeman (director of Klicperovo divadlo), Ing.arch.Otta Dvořák, Maya Lucas, Miroslav Lipina, prof. Boris Jirků, PhDr. Simeona Hošková, PhDr. Jiří Machalický, Graf Caesar Radetzky, PhDr. Kateřina Lukešová (Czech Ambassador in Luxembourg), Dr. Malcolm Stuart (Botanicus), Joseph Drebitko (collector and admirer of art), and other honorable guests.

Curatorial texts edition

Here you can download texts about Milan’s work written by renowned critics, theorists and art historians. A4 format, PDF.

'Milan Chabera has his irreplaceable line, a characteristic and original line – this line travels through the world of his paintings and it outlines the borders of new discoveries, it outlines the scale of his universe.'

'Milan Chabera is a substantive painter, illustrator, he is an excellent figuralist.'

'The work of Milan Chabera is diverse in subjects and techniques, showing how to merge well-tested approaches with unique expressions, which are based on traditional values but speak to a contemporary audience.'

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