For more than 50 years, Ota Prouza has lived in an institution for mentally handicapped in Brtníky, North Bohemia; he does not know how to read or write. Despite living in a rural setting surrounded by fields and forests he is fascinated by the hustle and bustle of big cities — highways, railways and everything associated with urban infrastructure. He regularly buys books, calendars and magazines reproducing cities. Through his work we can feel his longing for the civilization of another world, which he seems to observe from a bird-like view. Animals — hornets in particular — inhabit the treetops and dominate futuristic architectural structures. Prouza draws with pencil, markers and pen on sheets of paper that he glues together to form strips several meters long. His color spectrum depends on his mood or on what is going on around him. He often spends several weeks working on a single drawing.
PROUZA ota
