I have been
interested in art since my childhood. My parents took me often abroad so I had
a chance to see different cultures including various forms of art. For its
freedom and variety, both in culture and art, I fell in love with London, which
I have visited every year since I was about 15 years old. I enjoyed the time
spent in the National Gallery and Tate Modern watching and analysing the
paintings. Although I admired the talent of those great artists such as Turner,
Gogh and Sisley, I myself couldn´t paint at all.
 |
| Dream, oil on linen, 70 x 70 cm |
My first
attempt to paint was just several years ago while I was studying law at the
Charles University in Prague. The truth is that I really enjoyed my studies. On
the other hand; however, I felt I needed to balance my life with some different
activity, totally unrelated to law. I experienced a very urgent desire to have
a break from loads of thick books, complicated and constantly changing laws and
many not very easy-to-digest cases which had to be read and learnt. At that
time I relaxed doing sports, but then it somehow was not enough. I felt that I
needed to be active in some other - more creative - way.
 |
| New Beginnings, oil on linen, 70 x 90 cm |
I gave painting
a chance - it was playful, colourful, free and spontaneous. I found the whole new
world to discover. At the beginning I struggled a lot because of the lack of
any art education. But I was eager to learn and experiment on my own with
different media and techniques. However, I felt that I could have made much
bigger progress if I had taken classes with real artists.
 |
| Fragments, oil on canvas, 50 x 60 cm |
During my
studies at the Charles University and after my graduation I had an opportunity
to attend many art courses at The Art Academy in London. I was lucky enough to
meet and learn from excellent painters such as Tai-Shan Schierenberg, Brendan
Kelly, Catharine Prendergast and many others.
Since then my work developed rather surprisingly from very joyful and
colourful cityscapes to much darker, and mysterious places. What hasn´t changed
is my interest in architecture, urban, industrial and derelict places that some
would rather avoid. These places, structures and machines that I like to paint may
not be in operation anymore yet they are endowed with very special atmosphere
and spirit - a strong energy that is left.
 |
| Escape, oil on canvas, 70 x 90 cm |
My paintings are oscillating between reality and my imagination. I call
them “unknown landscapes” or “non-places” because you cannot clearly identify them.
Where are they? Is it night or is it morning? Is it warm or is it cold?
Something is not quite right here and it is difficult to say what it is. This is what I admire in paintings in general
– the ambiguity, obscurity and mystery.
As for the painting process, my works are usually based on my own
photos, sketches, videos and even memories of the real world; however, the
final works are never simple copies of my reference images. Quite the opposite,
they have a very different feeling and an almost dream-like quality to them. I
never know what the final painting will look like and that is also what I
enjoy. I start with one idea but as I progress with the painting I come up with
more thoughts, which I try to incorporate.
Thus the final piece is a combination of my fantasy, my interest in the
mystery, “the unknown” and my reference images.
 |
| Garbage, oil on canvas, 60 x 80 cm |
Although my focus is on the half-real half-imagined scenes, I began
experimenting with semi-abstraction. Thus in my portfolio you can see paintings
like Garbage, Fragments and New Beginnings.
In spite of the fact that they may vary in subject matter, they each have one thing
in common – it is always something very
complex and chaotic such as ruins or even a dump. The more complicated the
scene, the better in this case. But rather than painting every
single detail, I am interested in the variety of shapes, colours and how the
materiality of paint can evoke a texture of the chosen object.
 |
| Isolation, oil on canvas, 70 x 90 cm |
This is Week 6 of 52 Artists in 52 Weeks. Thank you for reading and sharing Petra's story today. To connect with Petra and see more of her work, please visit the following links:
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