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Dominik Šipr, who uses the pseudonym Lorenzo, is certainly not alone among the authors of so-called outsider art, who are irresistibly attracted to the world of trams and trains. For him, they represent an order that he understands well and that he needs for his life. He knows their history in detail, he can name them precisely, and he remembers their routes. But he also associates his painting with a similarly rigid order; his tubes of oil paint are precisely balanced and he paints with great care, even tenderness. He depicts his tram sets as something living, not just passing through, but intimately connecting with the landscape, the sky, and human dwellings. It is a world in which the author’s deep religious faith, which protects the world from chaos and alienation, is modestly manifested.

Šárka Hojaková wants to show the bright side of the world despite everything that troubles her in her life. She paints flowers, trees and landscapes in bold colours, but her paintings of cities, castles and chateaus are particularly fairytale-like. Portraits or human figures are a bit rarer, but she does not shy away from them either. It is also clear from the way she talks about her life and painting that she tries to openly accept everything that comes her way.

Marie Kohoutková entered the studio for the first time in 2019 and immediately stood out with the almost explosive energy of her drawings. Most of them are untitled and without an easily recognizable story. The artist doesn’t communicate much with her surroundings and one can only remotely guess what she is actually experiencing while drawing – usually in oil pastels.

Her emphasis on black is noticeable, but it is not at all oppressive or depressing – rather it sharply penetrates the other colours and makes known something poignant, bristled, almost combative, which needs to be expressed outwardly.

Klára Nešlehová’s calm, seemingly stereotypical work makes a very serene impression. She is completely immersed in her artwork, painting with great diligence and concentration. She joined the studio in 2019 and during her year-long work her imagination has developed into delicately coloured dreamscapes, which she usually paints in many variations. Her natural sense of order occasionally allows for slight deviations, and so she has evolved from her original A4 format, which she refused to give up, to large-scale watercolour paintings.

Vladimíra Mullerová likes to depict concrete objects and landscapes. She paints mostly in acrylic or watercolour on small-format paper. Her calm and unconflicted nature corresponds with her peaceful, almost naively simplistic pictorial expression. At first glance it does not seem to want to attract attention, it does not draw attention to itself with any particularly distinctive features, but rather invites one to stop and quietly concentrate on things that are all too easy to overlook.

Years ago, when Dominik Jirsa was recommended the studio by his psychologist, he came to see it more as a courtesy. However, he was enthusiastic about the free creative environment and began to visit it regularly. He usually paints with acrylic on hardboard and thinks very carefully about colour compositions beforehand. The result is abstract paintings with variously rhythmized geometric shapes or spots. Dominik is also a graphic artist, creating very elaborate multi-coloured linocuts, and he is also interested in photography.

Of all the artists in the Joyful Creation Studio, Jarmila Jandová needs the most support. When painting, however, she releases a thrilling energy. With great speed and energetic strokes, she paints figures, animals and buildings, which she simplifies into a kind of pictorial writing. In expressiveness and expressive gesture, Jarmila Jandová’s style is not far behind the acknowledged masters of abstract painting or big-city graffiti. However, if she does not put down her brush in time, the work in progress may eventually disappear again in the confusing tangle of her momentary state of mind.

Lukáš Paleček enthusiastically collects and portrays old discarded devices and appliances, especially washing machines, radios and tape recorders. He also collects individual parts, from which he then assembles his own devices. In 2019, this enthusiasm also drew the conceptual artist Eva Kot’atková to a joint exhibition – the performance “Romo the washing machine washes cucumbers” at the Jelení Gallery in Prague. “Lukáš observes the machines, listens, imitates and learns their language,” the artist observed during their collaboration. “He renders human society through the technological waste it produces.”

Lukáš Paleček’s drawings resemble X-ray images and are particularly striking for the intertwined lines of wires, cables, pipes or other networks. Sometimes they include writing or prices that soar to astronomical heights. But Paleček’s creativity does not stop at drawing: he files various documents in a kind of diary, and creates remarkable pantomimes with imaginary washing machines and lawnmowers. Despite his speech impediment, he constantly tries to communicate with his surroundings and report on his world.

In her paintings, Marie (“Majda”) Kůsová (*1949) introduces us to a never-ending story that seems almost childishly simple and clear, but at the same time unfolds in very dramatic, abrupt twists and turns. Hidden events seep into them from depths that are hard to see, which is reflected in the many layers the artist paints over her paintings. As in the graffiti on the walls of modern cities, in Maria Kůsová’s work one can often only vaguely sense all the multitudes of figures and indecipherable tangles of various inscriptions that seem to have dissolved or fallen into oblivion, yet still enter into the main plot.

Marie is a typical example of a creative personality who, without a creative studio, would probably have gone through life without anyone having the opportunity to get to know and appreciate her. On her own, she would hardly have arrived at the technique of acrylic painting on canvas, sometimes illustrated with pastel, but when it was offered to her at the Joyful Creation Studio, she was able to excel at it immediately. And it is significant that here she even found the central character of her story, whose name is usually written directly on the paintings: Otto, that is the long-time head of the studio Otto Kouwen, is painted in various situations in his life, experiencing all kinds of illnesses and accidents, evoking admiration and a completely ingenuous erotic fascination.