This prominent Czech painter combines colour, structure and a fascination with machines and the stories behind them.
Roman Franta (*1960) is a prominent Czech painter known for his original beetle paintings, colourful structures and playful symbolism. He graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague, and his works have been exhibited in Czechia and abroad. His work lies between realism, humour and conceptual art. He has a close relationship with motoring through his own experience as a motorcyclist, a series featuring the iconic VW Beetle and projects combining automotive design with an artist’s playful perspective. At Speed Art, he will present his characteristically “Franta” interpretation of the connection between cars and visual art.
10 questions for Roman Franta.
1. What does the theme of speed and movement mean to you?
I ride a motorcycle, ski and play tennis, so adrenaline and relaxation.
2. How do you reflect on the relationship between art and motoring? Do you see this dialogue as aesthetic, conceptual or more historical and cultural?
I see it mainly conceptually: I need a good enough idea before developing it. I have played with this theme several times in connection with my painted beetles and the VW Beetle. That led to about five paintings featuring the VW Beetle. One included the pope: as production in Mexico ended, Pope Pavel II blesses the last “Beetle”. Another featured Ferdinand Porsche releasing the first VW Beetle into the world (into a forest). Then there was the German question, with Hitler imagining a people’s car and Porsche making it for him, and one with the Beatles looking at a VW Beetle. There was also a tattooed VW Beetle, but only in a painting, and so on. I also painted my motorcycle with a naked girl in the saddle, watched by Brouk Pytlík and Ferda mravenec in a meadow near Mělník.
I also once painted a MiniCooper roof with English beetles, their wing cases bearing the design of the English flag. And I painted the bonnet of an old Škoda sedan with a mouth and nose in an abstract geometric design.
3. What makes the Speed Art exhibition unique for you?
A meeting of artists and artworks with beautiful cars, classics and motoring enthusiasts, where we can compare how everyone thinks about cars and art.
4. Has sport or motorsport ever influenced your work?
That is answered in question 2. Actually, I also painted my helmets with beetle motifs and turned a display mannequin into a black female motorcyclist.
5. Who do you consider a prominent artist working specifically with motorsport?
Theodor Pištěk immediately comes to mind with his hyperrealist paintings, racing cars, engines and drivers, followed by Otakar Švec and his motorcyclist, Sluneční paprsek (Sunbeam). Then of course Kamil Lhoták, David Černý and his “walking” Trabant and cars like hanging meat. Abroad, for example, Erwin Wurm, the Austrian artist who exhibits obese pink fibreglass cars. But cars appear on many artists’ canvases.
6. What is your favourite “DREAM CAR” and automotive designer?
I do not know many automotive designers, but Jozef Kabáň stuck in my memory. He designed one of the last Bugatti Veyron models, then worked at VW, then Škoda, and now works for the Chinese. He is distinctive and always brings something fresh to a brand. For practical reasons I like SUVs, such as Land – Rang Rovers. I own a Jeep Commander and previously had a JEEP Sport and JEEP Cherokee. They are easy to get into and excellent and safe for the mountains. I also like old American cars from the 1960s: they are roomy and comfortable inside.
7. Do you see your work at Speed Art as an individual statement or as part of a wider dialogue with the other exhibiting artists?
I see my work as a challenge, and we will see how it fits among the other artists and what they come up with 😊
8. Which racing driver do you regard as the most significant figure in motorsport?
Nicky Lauda, Jackie Stewart, Michael Schumacher, Valentino Rossi, Karel Loprais.
9. How do you see current trends in art in the context of technological progress? Does this development affect your own artistic thinking?
It does not affect me, but I notice technological progress. Perhaps it influences me subconsciously.
10. What are you working on now, and where can people see you?
My paintings are currently on display at Galerie 228 in Liberec. Meanwhile I have begun a new series, which I will first present next year in Prague and probably Karlovy Vary. After 15 years, I have returned to sets and structural painting, with work on colour as a prominent element.
Roman Franta 2025
