Within the title, I work with a language that is not very common these days. The Latin term "Trans", which is also part of the title of the exhibition, can be interpreted as something that is beyond nature, perhaps even something supernatural. In contrast, "naturalis" means something natural, coming from our world. Trans naturalis therefore transcends nature, perhaps even our understanding. So it is a kind of fusion of worlds, to which I find a parallel in the paintings. The painting becomes a kind of free space for metaphysical reflections. Trans naturalis is actually an attempt to grasp physically ungraspable and metaphysically immeasurable phenomena in painting. In the paintings, I reflect a view of the human state of being and not being. There are themes of death, emptiness or leaving traces of the existence of man and society. Although there is no human figure in my canvases, the human presence is projected into the paintings using placeholders, flowers and plant patterns. I am currently working on several cycles from which I would also like to select some paintings for this exhibition. Cycles such as: Herba vacui – plants of emptiness and death, the Acanthus callimachu cycle – the story of Callimachus and the acanthus, which over time becomes an empty abstract structure, and the Echo Narcissus cycle. I mainly work with plant motifs that devour their own environment or own image. The images refer to reflections on emptiness. And to the void that occurs after the death of a fictional species of plant. Plants are a kind of growing emptiness, a reminder of death, which can also be that empty place where we cannot look.

Vlastimil Nenadál