František Skála jr. apparently understands his work as the humanly-manipulated creativity of nature itself. With a mixture of humour and graveness, sarcasm and respect, monumentalness and tender sensitivity he creates most of his variations on natural objects. However beside sensitive communications with natures, he reflects in his works other parts of human life, i.e. the creation and processing of synthetic substances. Similarly with a certain degree of ironic cynicism, he sensitively lifts the light, colour, shape and material qualities of objets trouvés and their unexpected combinations. He inserts human utilitarian products into new contexts, and with this he steps from the area of the human experience to the purposeless area of aesthetics. He unveils a look at the secret correlations of human destinies. Similarly he plays with societal norms and habits in order to adopt a ironic distance from such proven models. (Shark, From the ON series, the MTO musical production, B.K.S. activities). It appears as a radical mystificator, while at the same time escaping exactness in the creative language and thoroughness of artistic expression both on a content level as well as a craft level. The field of film and TV graphics, which he studied at the Artistic-Industrial High School (VŠUP) in Prague, apparently peaked his interest in telling stories (the comic strip – the Big Pilgrimage of Vlas and Brada / Velké putování Vlase a Brady, dailies, illustrative fairy tales). He took part in student initiatives in school and, since 1984, in events put together in co-operation with students from the School of Creative Arts – AVU (mainly the Confrontation / Konfrontace exhibit). He is a member of the Tvrdohlaví group. He is a founder and current member of the secret group, BKS, and Commander of the Order of the Green Lady Bug (Řád Zelené Berušky). Beside the MTO Universal orchestra he serves in the musical body, Finnish Baroque (Finský barok) and in the vocal trio, Tros Sketos. He does not watch TV, does not yet have an e-mail address nor a mobile phone, and mainly lives a creative life on his isolated farm in Dřevíč. He his there when not taking part in one of his numerous residential stays abroad in top global art centres.
He attained his first significant successes through award recognition, both Czech and foreign, as an illustrator of children’s books. In 1990 he received the Jindřich Chalupecký Award and a residency grant at the Headlands Center for the Arts in San Francisco. The latter was part of the prize and had a significant impact on the artist. Since 1992 he has worked on a creative solution for the interior of the Akropolis Palace in Prague.
In 1993 he was selected to represent the Czech Republic at the 45th Biennale for Contemporary Art in Venice. He headed off to Italy on foot, and in the Czech Pavilion he showed drawings from his 850 km long pilgrimage.
In 2004 he held a comprehensive exhibit in the Rudolfinum, an event characterised as the artistic event of the year.
1976-1982 Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague
1971-1975 High School of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague
Awards:
2010 Cena Ministerstva kultury za přínos v oblasti výtvarného umění (za vyjímečné tvůrčí počiny)
2010 Certificate of Honor for Illustration, IBBY, Santiago de Compostela, Španělsko
2009 Zlaté jablko BIB 2009, Bratislava
2008 Zlatá stuha, Klub ilustrátorů dětské knihy, česká sekce IBBY, Praha
2005 Cena Osobnost roku, výroční cena časopisu Pars (za nejvýznamější výtvarný počin r. 2004)
2002 Certificate of Honor for Illustration, IBBY, Basilej, Švýcarsko
2000 Výroční cena nakladatelství Albatros
1996 Cena Interier roku 1996
1994 Výroční cena nakladatelství Albatros
1991 Zlatá stuha, Klub literatury pro mládež, Klub ilustrátorů dětské knihy, Česká sekce IBBY, Praha
1991 1. cena Arte Giovane di Europa, Bolzano, Itálie
1991 Cena Jindřicha Chalupeckého
1990 Čestná cena Jindřicha Chalupeckého
1989 Certificate of Honor for Illustration IBBY, Williamsbburg, USA
1989 Cena Ministerstva kultury ČR za nejkrásnější knihu
1988 Cena ČFVU, Bienále užité grafiky a ilustrace, Brno (Řemesla našich předků)
1988 Výroční cena nakladatelství Albatros
1984 2. cena mezinárodního filmového festivalu Stuttgart, Německo
1984 Cena Ministerstva kultury ČR za nejkrásnější knihu
1983 Čestné uznání, SFA Varna, Bulharsko
1982 Čestné uznání, Festival československého filmu, České Budějovice
1980
Socha pro zahradu zámku ve Veltrusích
1989
Kamenná pevnost, dětské hřiště, Praha, Dolní Počernice
Cestovní deník, 1993
1993
Cestovní deník. Deník popisující cestu pěšky z Prahy do Benátek, kde František Skála reprezentoval Českou republiku na 48. bienále.
1993 - 7
Design interiéru paláce Akropolis, Praha, Žižkov (restaurace, divadlo, bar a kavárna)
1997
Velké putování Vlase a Brady, komiks, Divus Praha 1997
2004
Dvě sochy pro park Hadovka, Praha
2006
Socha "Špion", Opava
2007
Design rekonstrukce interiéru paláce Akropolis, Praha, Žižkov (foyer, šatna, Malá scéna)
BKS, Dvacet let tajné organizace, připravili: Pablo Augeblau, prof. Eckel Eckelhaft, Jirek Zlobin-Levi Ostrovid, Dr. Škába Sklabinský, ed.: Výtvarné umění, The Magazine for Contemorary Art
František Skála, monografie, texty: Ludvík Hlaváček, J.P.Jöndl, Zdeněk Kratochvíl, Miroslav Petříček, Rupert Sheldrake, Dr. Shivadikar, Františk Skála
ed. Arbor Vitae spolu s Muzeem umění Olomouc, 2012
recenze:
Ludvík Hlaváček: Skála v Makrokoulích, samizdatový časopis Někdo Něco č. Praha 1986
Ludvík Hlaváček: Přírodní tvar v díle Františka Skály, samizdatový časopis Někdo Něco č. 13 Praha, jaro 1989