After the end of the war Vavro Oravec left for Prague where he studied stomatology at Charles University. In 1948 he began to work as a dentist in a health centre in Prague. In his free time he tried his hand at painting, attending a course of drawing lessons under Jan Bauch. He later sought out the advice of friends from the May 57 group of painters (R .Fremund, R. Piesen, J. Kolínská,
J. Balcar, Z. Sekal and others). He first exhibited his work together with a group of doctor painters in 1955 in the E. F. Burian Theatre. It was at this time that he began to paint in a more systematic way. Helped on by a natural talent, he was soon to master the basics of painting, but never lost his original naiveté, unique sensibility and distinctness of expression.
  
   Three one-man shows in 1959, 1962 and 1965 came about as a result of his own artistic development and personal outlook . He painted slowly, patiently, with great focus and intensity. He never acquired the technical assuredness and skill of a professional painter, a shortcoming he turned to his advantage. He was forced to explore and discover everything for himself, to contemplate with a sense of humility and an awareness of life. His work does not reveal any marked development or dramatic change; it is as if he keeps returning to a narrow yet focused range of themes, while using new means to discover qualities that until now have been hidden. Jaromír Pecirka said of Vavro Oravec’s work in 1959: “There is something mysterious in his paintings...as if the remnants or echoes of some ancient culture were hidden within...the patina of something that is not new, something that was experienced and cherished not only by the artist but by his ancestors...”. 
   For a long time, his work was almost exclusively centred around portraits. These are imaginary portraits, based on a deep sense of affinity. The sorrowful faces of children and young girls reflect his war-time experiences. After the occupation of Czechoslovakia in August 1968 he emigrated to Bern, Switzerland. In exile new themes emerged in his paintings recalling the terrifying experience from Auschwitz and the death marches. He created portraits of his ancestors, relatives and friends, as well as stylised self-portraits that seem to depict mental states rather than outward appearances. From the very beginning, however, his portraits of his kindred spirit Franz Kafka were predominant. These were later followed by portraits of other authors, such as Marcel Proust, Robert Walser, Hermann Hesse and Ernst Troller, as well as his favourite artists Amedeo Modigliani, Marc Chagall, Paul Klee and Karel Černý. 
   His work is created in privacy, in an enclosed space, in isolation and concentration, as the result of an ever deepening experience and awareness. His paintings take form slowly, emerging in silence from oblivion, revealing hidden faces and objects that seemed to be lost. Colours are layered in a similar way to human experience, memories and dreams. His paintings radiate an indefinable magic sensibility, evocative of dreams and a silent immersion into a world either long since past or existing somewhere on the other side of our consciousness. They focus on simple things and incorporate childhood memories, moments of despair and happiness forever fixed. They are a reflection of his soul and his life. Through his art he seeks a pathway to himself, to forgotten events, people and objects, to their hidden meanings and significance which are hopelessly eluding the rest of us in the hustle and bustle of life.
 
Biographical details:

Exhibition curator:PhDr. Arno Parik
Installation: Pavel Brach