Bio

Michaela Krátká, who works under the pseudonym LaPapula, was born on 22 February 1992 in Jihlava. From an early age she was drawn to drawing and painting. Her mother was her first role model and inspiration, and Michaela tried to copy her funny drawings.

Apart from a year studying the restoration of paintings, she has no formal training in fine art. Still, or perhaps because of that, she worked her way from her first coloured-pencil doodles, through pencil drawing, to her favourite technique today: acrylic and oil on canvas. In her paintings she creates realistic portraits of people and animals, with a humanity all her own. Their faces reflect the emotions of their life stories. With her paintbrush, she brings them to life and lends them her soul, which then speaks to the viewer about the sorrows and joys of each figure.

She has been tattooing since 2018, and she gives it the same love and passion as her paintings. You can see her work not only on random passers-by, but also in the film Gump, on the actress Jana Plodková. And every year you can meet her at Tattoo Session Silesia, where she is one of the judges of the contest.

Her role models include the Austrian-Irish artist Gottfried Helnwein, Salvador Dalí and the Mexican painter Frida Kahlo, who drew her in above all with her character and life story. She finds inspiration in everyone around her who works with love and dedication, whatever it is they do.

She considers her greatest success the exhibition of a series of portraits of Czech underground figures in the Senate of the Czech Republic. It included a portrait of Václav Havel on a canvas measuring an incredible 2 × 3 metres, which was also shown at the Ilusion Art Museum on Old Town Square in Prague. She treasures meeting the singer Chris Jagger (Mick Jagger’s brother), whom she had the honour of painting during his concert at the Doupě music club in Prague.

You could see her paintings at charity auctions, to which she donated her work, and at exhibitions all over the Czech Republic. She loves to travel and never takes a step without paints and a brush, so you can find her creations in Morocco, Albania, northern Spain and on the Thai island of Koh Samui.