Since 2021, studying at the Academy of Arts in Banská Bystrica, Faculty of Fine Arts, Department of Painting in the Open Painting Studio headed by R. Podoba. 2024, completed study stay in Erasmus+ programme at the State Academy of Fine Arts in Karlsruhe, in Prof. Magnus Plessen’s Studio. 2023–2024, Erasmus+ programme at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, Faculty of Painting, where he studied under Prof. Wojciech Cieśniewski. 2021, acquired his Bachelor’s Degree in the Department of History – British and American Studies at Pavol Jozef Šafárik University.

Adam Baník, a debutant in the competition, approaches painting as an open space. He consciously gives preference to authenticity over formal consistency – because every theme he addresses, in his view, naturally requires its own visual language. He finds a personal challenge, but also a source of artistic strength, in the necessity to adapt and be consistently flexible. Although by preference he does figural painting, Baník does not bind himself to a single form or style; on the contrary, his work is distinguished by a constant effort to redefine visual expression, according to the particular content which he is trying to capture. His approach is introspective, sensitively responding to the nature of the theme. In painting he seeks moments of origin: those moments when the picture is still only being formed and the artist does not know where exactly it will lead. This creative process, as he sees it, is a spontaneous and also a responsible act – not only towards himself but also towards the theme he is addressing. Each work is thus a dialogue between the artist’s inner world and the ‘truth’ of the painting itself, which demands respect and sincerity. Baník’s work is thus a product of the quest for balance between personal expression and universal statement.  

His final entry In Drops of Sweat We Thrive (2025) is part of a wider series of works of painting and drawing, which draw inspiration from the line ‘That has wings!’ in the eponymous poem by the Ukrainian artist Lina Kostenko. Wings here do not serve as an ornament or symbol of innocence: rather, they are a metaphor for personal transformation. They are not given to a person by birth, and one must merit them. They are acquired by experience, growth, overcoming pain and acquiring inner reconciliation... It is by its positive message that this poem interests the artist. The characters portrayed, situated in an unambiguous space, are bearers of their own story, on the way to ‘acquiring wings’. This is no idealised vision of human existence but rather the indication and documentation of a path and a moment, where the human being, thanks to struggle or self-reflection, may approach what the symbolic wings make possible for himfreely taking flight... 
 
(The text is from the catalogue for the competition Painting 2025, N. Gažovičová)