OTA JIRÁK

Ota Jirák (born April 12, 1949) graduated from the Department of Puppetry at DAMU. He gradually established himself as a prominent figure in Czech theater and film, working primarily at the Semafor Theater and F. R. Čech's Prozatímní divadlo. He lent his voice to, for example, the plush character Hele (Jů and Hele have been voiced with Jiří Lábus for over 40 years), Rubeus Hagrid from the Harry Potter saga, and the alien Alf. Regarding his artistic work, Ota Jirák has a fondness for caricatures and paintings that capture exaggerated, even grotesque features of people or animals. This work is directly inspired by his sense of humor and dramatic expression, which allows him to enrich his artworks with absurdities and unique comical elements. He has created a series of enamels, drawings, and illustrations that have a strongly expressive style and a simplified, yet apt form.