Roman Franta – Outside / Inside

The exhibition presents the work of the significant Czech painter Roman Franta (1962), who became widely known for his series of insect paintings, for which he was nominated for the Jindřich Chalupecký Award. From the late 1990s, he served as an associate professor at AVU and now shares his experience at the Art & Design Institute. The exhibition Outside / Inside is a selective retrospective that loosely follows Roman Franta's work from the 1990s to the present. The author opens a light-hearted dialogue between the inner and outer world, between personal experience and cultural memory. His works, while rooted in reality, oscillate between hyperrealistic tendencies and lapidary painting, thus creating an sometimes absurd contrast between the precision of detail and the abbreviation of a painterly gesture. Human relationships, faces, references to books or art history are processed by Roman Franta with ironic detachment, but at the same time with an awareness of the seriousness of topics that touch on human existence and cultural tradition. Irony for him is a means of reflection, not an escape. Outside / Inside is not just a simple overview of the author's work to date, but also an exploration into the transformations of his painterly language and visual contemplation over the last three decades. Roman Franta shows that painting can be contemplative and playful, evaluative and informal at the same time, and the horizons it opens are always twofold: personal and universal. Accompanying program: May 24, 2026, from 2:30 PM – Guided tour with the artist Roman Franta as part of the Open Day (free admission). Exhibition installation: Exhibition opening: Exhibition media partner: