1931 – 2015 Painter, graphic artist, illustrator, sculptor, teacher. He studied at VŠUP in Prague under F. Muzika. As a designer and advertising graphic designer, he worked for Tuzex Prague, Skloexport, Čs. television, the National Theater and other institutions. In his free work, he devoted himself to painting, moving from cubistically perceived landscapes from the late 1950s to imaginative painting full of symbols, philosophical content and ethical, humanistic, and civilizational problems. He also worked on architecture. He worked as a teacher in Zlín and at SUPŠ in Prague.

Academic painter Milan Staněk graduated from the University of Arts and Industry. He was close to the painterly imagination of František Muzika, from whose influence he got rid of the program after graduation. www.stanekart.com

Staňka's subjects are mostly memories of childhood and youth spent in Bučovice (Bučovský zámek - 1959, Family - 1964, Sunday morning - 1967, Parents - 1974). He strives for the creative expression of the individuality of individuals different in character and appearance, whom he calls "counterfigures". Sometimes he puts them in conflict (Box - 1968, Dialog - 1969, Footballer in the Brickyard - 1974, Illusion of Selfishness - 1970), other times he stylizes them as prototypes of completely alienated people living side by side (Illusion of Individualism I - 1969, II - 1970, or in lightened form - Parida's trial I-IV - 1986-1992).

At that time, he painted a number of impressive monochronic paintings based on Cubist stylization (The Sea under the Surface - 1968, The Yugoslav Coast - 1968, Children's Games I-III - 1968, Dialog - 1969, Harbor - 1969).

Since the 1960s, he has been painting successful poetic compositions in the style of lyrical abstraction, in which he continues to the present day (Morning at Unknown Water - 1967, Winter - 1972, Galaxie - 1980, Eruption - 1991). Surrealism, forbidden until the 1960s, became attractive to him (Rhythms - 1965, Vedro - 1967, Monstrum I-III - 1967, Lonely Tree I-III - 1967, Hope - 1977, Spring - 1990, Erotova Zahrada - 1991).

The imaginative component omnipresent in Staňek's work poeticizes memories of home (Cockfights - 1970, In the Old Brick House - 1970, Memory - 1978, U Vrbičky - 1991, Space in the Backyard - 2001). Paintings expressing longing for Moravian nature, which has been replaced by overcrowded dustbins, apartment buildings and smog, are even among the best (Disappearing Carpet - 1966, Dead Birds - 1985).

Recently, he has been painting expressive, colorful figurative compositions. The characters radiate an inner, different light - aura (Too Different - 2001, Ecstáze - 2003, Brick House - 2004).

Staněk does not deny his ancestral sculptural genes either. He created a series of reliefs for public interiors in various materials. He also models precisely, as evidenced by the portraits of his granddaughter (1986) and father (1989). He also created many successful works in the field of applied graphics - covers for gramophone records and posters, in 1992 the winning logo for the XII. All-school gathering. He used his many years of teaching experience in the textbook for art schools "Figure drawing technique" (1992).