Martin Salajka

Bio

Martin Salajka (*1981) studied at the Faculty of Fine Art at Brno University of Technology (2002–2005, painting, prof. Petr Veselý) and the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague (2005–2008, painting, prof. Michael Rittstein). “Everything is the same and everything is changing.” This seeming contradiction is the driving force behind his work. The spirits of the long dead wander among living beings in a harmony of terror and awakening. The owl or the wolf, and in his newer paintings the chameleon, are symbols that naturally refer to Darwin and Brehm as much as they do to ancient mythology or pagan legends. Salajka applies his own personal rules, colors, shapes, and narrative language to his work. His recent paintings are characterized by increasingly tight structures and compositions. He is capable of working on a monumental scale, often experimenting with distinctive and contrasting colors. In 2020, Trafo Gallery published a catalogue for his exhibition Neurosis.