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To really appreciate Tonda’s paintings you have to hear his story. He has been painting all of his life. Painting became an escape for him during the communist reign in Czechoslovakia. As a young man he had aspirations to study art and science in school. But after World War II, he was forced to work in a factory. Life under the communists was restrictive in every sense. Daily life was a struggle and yet this extraordinary man built a wonderful, rich, yet simple life for him and his family. His talents for art and science came in handy to make life better for his family. Tonda literally had to manufacture everything in his life. He built his own home, a familiar concept today. But Tonda had to make everything to build his home because there were no supplies available to him. He welded metal to create radiators, he mixed and poured every brick, and he built a tractor piece-by-piece from scratch, actually manufacturing all the parts he needed. He is self-taught in all aspects and an amazing success. The success lays in the life in his eyes, despite how difficult life has been. Tonda has the hands of a black-smith, yet he can paint the most delicate of paintings with the smallest brushes. And Tonda catches you looking too long at one of his paintings, he will insistently give it to you. He lives today in Bystre, Czech Republic, with his wife of 40 years.
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