Perfect systems.
Perfect lives.
Perfect performances.

We all drink from the same porcelain cup…
Pretending not to notice the aftertaste.

I paint that aftertaste.

Not the ritual.
Not the surface.
Not the polished lie you’ve been trained to swallow.

I stage betrayal.
On purpose.
In plain sight.

So you feel it…
Just a second too late.

A smear you almost miss.
A ribbon pulled too tight.
A gesture that holds…
Until it doesn’t.

I work in oil because nothing else lets me stretch control this far.
Without snapping it.

Every painting is a set-up.
Every object, a dare.
Every surface, a held breath.

I paint the violence we hide behind good manners.
I paint the moment before the mask slips.
I paint the thing you already feel.
But won’t name.

So I’ll name it.

And I’ll serve it to you.
Mezcal, not tea.
In the prettiest cup I can find.

Tereza Barnard (b. 1984, Czech Republic) is a painter working in psychologically charged realism. Her restrained still lifes and cropped figures unravel the polish of social performance, revealing humour, unease, and the quiet absurdities beneath surface beauty.

Barnard’s practice spans meticulously staged still life compositions and intimate figurative works, often marked by subtle distortions, visual riddles, and dry wit. Each series functions as a psychological stage: elegance heightened to the point of fracture, order unsettled by quiet disruptions.

Her work has entered private collections in the UK, US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Europe, and she has been featured in publications including Create! Magazine. Barnard lives and works in Mallorca.