One Monday in July, I had the chance to meet Aika Hladíková and take a glimpse into the world behind her art. A world full of structure and logic, but also free abstraction. We met in the early evening at Café Platýz in the center of Prague, finally finding a quiet moment after a busy day. Instead of coffee, we chose cola and lemon soda.
What struck me first about Aika was a curious contradiction. When she talks about her life, everything follows a clear structure. Logic, system, order. She studied civil engineering, although it was not easy. The political regime at the time prevented her from studying what she truly wanted. Still, she did not give up. Her love of mathematics led her to economics, which she pursued for many years. At one point, she stepped aside to help implement complex information systems and expand her knowledge. Today she leads an economics team, and her schedule is packed from morning until evening. One might expect her to live in a world of numbers and deadlines only.
Yet she has another side that contrasts with all of that. Her lifelong passion for painting. For Aika, art is a completely different world. A world without rules, without limits, without the need to explain anything. A space where intuition and emotion guide every step. This is where she creates. Freely. Abstractly.
This intuitive approach is part of her creative process. Aika is not inspired by other artists. Everything comes from within her own imagination. She described moments when two unrelated thoughts connect in her mind. A kind of synthesis. And then it happens. A moment of clarity. Click. She suddenly sees the finished work. What follows is careful preparation. She thinks through the style, the shades of color, and the right dimensions. This phase is like creating a construction plan. Nothing is left to chance. She says she never wastes a canvas, as throwing one away would feel like throwing money out the window. During this stage, she does not let anything distract her. At that moment, nothing else exists.
She says she has never thrown away a single canvas. She always knows exactly what she wants to paint and simply does it. No revisions. No doubts. She does not come across as someone classically trained, but rather as a self-taught artist with a strong inner drive who creates under a pseudonym.
Aika loves books, especially science fiction and fantasy. She is also influenced by her surroundings, particularly her family, her supportive husband, and her son. These are the worlds she draws from to fuel her imagination. It may also come from her broad perspective and deep desire to show the world in different dimensions.
She told me that people who buy her paintings rarely explain what attracted them. She believes that a painting finds its owner on its own. That the right connection forms without words. Perhaps that is why her work feels so powerful. It radiates the calm she experiences while creating it.
If I had to describe Aika’s work in a single word, it would be calm.
