František Skála

František Skála (*1956) is a Czech sculptor, painter, illustrator, musician and performer. He studied woodcarving at the Secondary School of Applied Arts in Prague and film and television graphics at UMPRUM. His work grows out of a sensitive engagement with found objects, natural materials, craft, humour and mystification. In objects, drawings, illustrations and installations he connects the poetics of the everyday with imagination, natural morphology with the human trace, and seriousness with gentle irony.

He is a co-founder of the Tvrdohlaví group, a member of the Sklep theatre, of the secret group B. K. S. and of the musical ensembles Malý Taneční Orchestr Universal Praha, Finský Barock and Tros Sketos. In 1991 he received the Jindřich Chalupecký Award, and in 1993 he represented the Czech Republic at the Venice Biennale, to which he travelled on foot, turning the journey into part of his artistic statement. He is the author of the comic The Great Journey of Vlas and Brada, of numerous illustrations and books, of the interior of Prague's Palác Akropolis, and of many solo exhibitions, including extensive presentations at the Rudolfinum Gallery, the National Gallery Prague and GHMP.