The exhibition presents the work of this young painter, in particular his paintings associated with nature, real and imagined: landscapes, the Moon seen through Earth’s atmosphere, and motifs from the realm of zoology and cryptozoology, all of which reflect Houska’s interest in the natural sciences. Another section of the exhibition consists of his portraits and nudes.

Jirka Houska (*1985) shifts the realistic painting style typical for students of professor Beran towards new and unique positions. His works are marked by a return to the formal virtuosity of 19th-century classical painting, which – which the stroke of his brush – he brings into the 21st century only to immediately jump back to prehistory. Or he combines both eras in one painting, as in Mammoths with Plastic Tarp. Houska’s interest in the natural sciences has provided him with a practical background for painting familiar animals as well as lesser-known or even fictitious ones. Houska is also attracted to plants just as strongly as he is to animals. Romantic landscapes without a trace of human presence are depicted in such a way that it is impossible to place the scene in any historical era. Nature endures for ages unless human intervention of natural catastrophes (or both) leave their irreversible mark…

Houska’s large-format realistic paintings depict the Moon as a silent witness of all that takes place on Earth – a witness that, thanks to the progress of civilization, we have even visited. A small step for Man, a giant leap for mankind – and yet the Moon remains mysterious and out of reach, shrouded in mystery just like Woman (girl, mother), who is so affected by the phases of the Moon.

The exhibition closes with Houska’s half-portraits – close-up paintings of parts of faces, bodies, and women’s breasts. They bring us full circle to unexplained mysteries that each viewer must explore on his own.

Nadia Rovderová, January 2015

JIRKA HOUSKA was born in 1985 in Prague. He studied painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague under the late professor Zdeněk Beran. In 2013, some of his works were acquired by the National Gallery in Prague.