Oil on canvas 50x40 cm, 2025
About the author:
Jaroslav Valečka was born on October 27, 1972, in Prague, but spent part of his childhood in the small village of Líska in the Lusatian Mountains. He was fascinated by the local landscape and the stories of the people who inhabited it after the expulsion of the original inhabitants. These experiences continue to influence his painting to this day.
He was introduced to painting by his teacher Vlastimil Šik, who inspired him with his enthusiasm for art. From 1991 to 1998, Jaroslav Valečka studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague in the studio of Jiří Sopek, where he focused on landscape painting and expressionist expression. He supplemented his studies with internships in Germany, Norway, and the Netherlands, where he gained independence and a professional approach to art. His work was significantly influenced by his childhood spent in the former Sudetenland, severely affected by displacement, Soviet occupation, and the devastation of the communist regime.
He has been exhibiting since 1999 and is considered one of the prominent Czech artists. His paintings are represented in private collections and state galleries, such as the National Gallery in Prague, GASK in Kutná Hora, the Regional Gallery in Liberec, and many others. He actively participates in exhibitions both at home and abroad; his works have been exhibited, for example, in London, New York, Munich, Venice, and Canterbury.
In 2004, Jaroslav Valečka became a member of the Czech section of the Stuckist movement, which champions painting and rejects empty conceptualism. He is also a member of the satirical group Natvrdlí, which humorously returns to traditional painting. A monograph about his work was written by the world-renowned British art historian Edward-Lucien Smith, who included him, as one of two Czech artists, in his book Movements in art after 1945. Works by Jaroslav Valečka have repeatedly been successfully auctioned at the world's largest auction house, Sotheby's.
"My paintings are not a document; they are more of a mood, a state of mind. I start from a specific landscape, but in the end, it is always a picture of the world as I feel it. And sometimes it can be quite dark."
Jaroslav Valečka
