Patrik Habel’s Eyes Between the Mountains at the Centre for Contemporary Art EPO1 is not a classic show of paintings. It is a monumental landscape painting in which we look not only with our eyes, but with our whole body. The artist transforms the Turbine Hall of the gallery into a sprawling visual organism – his scrolls float like waves, even like mountains. The landscape of painting here does not only take place on the surface, but grows through the very structure of the space. At the heart of this installation is a cycle of dozens of female faces. They have been created over the years, using the alla prima technique – one intuitive gesture, without corrections, like a kiss that lasts a fraction of a second but is remembered for a lifetime. These are not portraits in the classical sense. They are archetypal faces, born from memory, from a deep layer of consciousness and subconsciousness. Through the face, Hábl traces the sediments of time, capturing change and permanence. The face here is not just an image – it is a sign, a cipher, a mirror of inner landscapes. A fundamental role in Hábl’s work is played by the technique of ‘ripping out’ – a destructive act by which the painter gets under the skin of the image. The torn layers reveal the underlying structure of the painting, as if he were trying to reach down to the bone. The eyes between the mountains are not an exhibition. They are a space in which the painting ceases to be a painting and becomes an experience. An experience that gets under your skin like a good poem. And it may never let go.