Josef 'Pepča' Stejskal (also known as Josef Lada Stejskal) is a figure of

Brno Brno ( , ; german: Brünn ) is a city in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. Located at the confluence of the Svitava and Svratka rivers, Brno has about 380,000 inhabitants, making it the second-largest city in the Czech Republic ...

subculture during the 1970s in

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

. Labelled as a 'poet, artist, surrealist and protagonist', he was well known within the Brno 'counter culture' which opposed the communist regime at the time. Born (March 3, 1945) in the Moravian town of Kroměříž, he later moved to Brno as a young man full of ambitions. In Brno, he established himself amongst the theatrical and literary circles of the time. Noted for his poetry and his artwork, he became best known for his theater posters which contained his unique brand of surrealism and humour. This unique style was popular with the people, but not with the communist regime, and it eventually landed him in 'hot water'; in 1978, he was forced to flee his motherland and ended up in far-away Sydney, Australia. This was good news for the theater scene in Australia as it was in long-awaited need of something new and edgy, and Pepča brought and planted his unique style there. An image gallery of Josef Stejskal's best-known artworks can be found at the National Gallery of Australia.

References

Czech artists Czech anti-communists Czechoslovak emigrants to Australia People from Kroměříž Year of birth missing (living people) Living people {{CzechRepublic-artist-stub