Ladislav Vlna works with steel using his own technique he calls “a metallurgical painting”. He has been developing this technique for the last fifteen years. The paintings are burned into steel plates with fire without the addition of any other material. The drawing is hand-engraved into the material and the colours are extracted by annealing from the very inside of the steel and its essence. The illusions created by the reflection of light from the surface of the steel material that is processed this way create a true and complex picture of the complexity and inner beauty of the depicted object.

Ladislav Vlna (1976) comes from Třebíč. He graduated from the High School of Applied Art in Uherské Hradiště and then from the Academy of Fine Art in Prague. He has stayed in Prague to live and work there. Ladislav creates not only just paintings and drawings, but also sculptures to be placed in public places. For the last fifteen years, Ladislav has been developing a unique technique he invented – he calls it “a metallurgical painting”. The paintings are burned into steel plates with fire without the addition of any other material.An actual light condition plays an important role in painting perception – the artwork looks completely different at different times of the day. Ladislav found his way to this technique through working with his father in a locksmith workroom, where he, as a child, often helped. Ladislav was fascinated by the colour changes of the steel materials when he applied fire on them. He says: “When a steel plate is exposed to fire, it is difficult to keep it straight. Getting the colours you want exactly where you want and keep it all together is very demanding, but it is beautiful work. Everyone who works with iron knows this well.”