Martin Mainer

Martin Mainer (*1959) studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague at the Studio of Arnošt Paderlík and at the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague. His work in painting has a distinctive sensual, emotional and expressive style. The imagination of Mainer’s early canvases is akin to the tradition of Czech baroque painting. He was strongly influenced by his study trip to Headlands, California and New Mexico in 1994 where he met Hindu guru Ram Dass who guided him on his spiritual and artistic path. His later work was inspired by eastern religious movements, magic, symbolism and psychedelic aesthetics. Mainer often works with the source materials of his paintings which further contextualize the resulting image. Martin Mainer exhibited his work at Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam and Oulu Museum of Art. He was head of the Painting Studio II at the Faculty of Fine Arts at Brno University of Technology and head of the Painting Studio IV at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague.