Hana Puchová

Hana Puchová (*1966) studied illustration at the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague under Jiří Šalamoun (1991–1997), and in 1996, she completed a study residency in Marseille, France. After her studies, she returned to Ostrava, where she dedicates her time to teaching and occasional book illustration (Jan Balabán, Petr Hruška) alongside her own creative work. She collaborated with Marek Tomáš on the book Můj Golem (My Golem), which won a Magnesia Litera award, and she is also the author of the comic book Sonina síla (Sonia's Strength). She has presented her work in numerous significant group and solo exhibitions in the Czech Republic and abroad, for instance in Wrocław, Poland, or Bonn, Germany.

Puchová is a painter with a unique style whose work is an integral part of the Ostrava art scene. The married couple Jana and Jiří Ševčík brought her significant attention at the exhibition Ostrava… umjeni? at the Mánes Exhibition Hall in Prague in 1998, and her work recently introduced the exhibition Návratný průzkum: Ostrava (Return Survey: Ostrava) at the Prague City Gallery. Puchová has long focused on everyday motifs—capturing her loved ones, views into private interiors, as well as themes from the animal and plant kingdoms.

Frequent motifs include pairs or trios of figures depicting the artist’s friends, often from artistic circles. Jirka in the painting Jirka a Daniela (Jirka and Daniela) is the well-known Ostrava artist and teacher Jiří Surůvka, while Jan a Daniel represent the Balabán brothers, the writer and the visual artist. Puchová paints intimate micro-stories from the (extra)ordinary life around her, in which time stands still for a moment, making it possible to truly peer into the depth of the depicted figures and situations. Whether she is letting us look into the depths of the human soul or into the living room of her acquaintances, she does so with artistic brilliance, precision, and the poetics of the everyday moment.