František Skála

Who is František Skála?

František Skála jr is a Czech sculptor, painter, children's book illustrator, musician, and dancer.

He studied woodcarving at Secondary Applied Arts School Prague, 1971–1975 and in 1982 graduated from the University of Applied Arts in film and television graphics.

He achieved his first major successes as an illustrator of children’s books, and won a series of awards in this field.

In 1995 he represented the Czech Republic with his illustrations at the Frankfurt International Book-Fair.

His comics serial “The Great Travels of Hair and Chin” was to have been made into a full feature animated film, and he worked on the project for several years although it was not in the end carried through.

Alongside illustration, from the beginning of the 1980s he began to make a name for himself as a sculptor and creator of remark­able objects and installations, and it was in this guise that he made the most lasting impression on the public. He presented his works at both solo exhibitions and at joint exhibitions with his contemporaries from the group TVRDOHLAVÍ [The Stubborn], 1987–1991, which brought a postmodern spirit to the arts scene of the time, and of which Skála was a founder member.