Ondrej Rypacek

Ondřej Rypáček: Artist Statement
Ondřej Rypáček approaches painting as an act of transformation—a continuous interplay between control and intuition, structure and improvisation. His work is not about fixed meanings or predetermined outcomes but about navigating the unknown, embracing change, and allowing the process to shape the result. Each painting is a layered record of decisions, where nothing is truly erased, only covered, revealed, or reworked in an organic evolution. The process mirrors the rhythms of life, where nothing can be undone or retried; hence, nothing really matters. Life is what is here and now.
Modern art starts with the realisation that a painting is a physical object. Rypáček uses natural linen and paint, often hand-made from pure pigment and cold-pressed linseed oil. The canvas is not primed, only sealed with natural hide glue. This reveals the beautiful irregular structure of linen canvas, as opposed to the much more machinistic regularity of cotton. The earth pigments come first, just as in the classical painting process. They give the paintings their depth and structure, sometimes seen as looming darkness behind everything. The darkness moves into the light with rich, bright, impasto brushstrokes.
During...

MFA, London Metropolitan University
Diploma figurative painting, LARA
PhD Theoretical Computer Science, University of Nottingham

Dec 2023-Jan 2024, CARNEVALE : Friendly Little Monsters, Vivienne Roberts Projects, London
Oct 25th-30th 2023, Don't Look Back, Vivienne Roberts Projects, London
Sep 12th-16th 2023, PARE, Graduation Exhibition, London Met, London
Mar 30th 2023, Spring Show, London Met, London
Mar 23rd 2023, Box of Tricks, C4AD, London
Dec 2022, Winter Show, London Met, London
May 2019, Artist Open, 155A Gallery, London
Feb 2018, #ThinkHand, exhibition of commissioned work, Bankside Gallery
Dec 2018, Painting Open, No Format Gallery, London