Alois Janak (born 1924)
Born in Krasne Brezno, Czechoslovakia, 1924 the son of a headmaster, the contemporary painter, etcher and lithographer Alois Janak first studied art in Prague during World War II under Professor Spacek in 1943. Following the war he worked as in the Prague aircraft factories and studied agriculture. Janak became embroiled in Czechoslovakia’s post-war political turmoil and escaped to Bavaria, and then Paris, in 1949. He completed his education in both Paris and Munich from 1949 to 1950. Begining in 1952 he began to devote himself to art full-time. Janak’s first one man exhibition in the United States took place in 1956. In the following year the Galerie Marcel in Paris hosted a similar exhibition. Known for his meticulous detail and provocative imagery, Janak often combines seemingly incongruous elements to create a surreal world, often in a humorous fashion. Alois Janak resides with his family in Switzerland.