Until a few years ago, nobody knew of Pavel Salák (b. 1951) from Sokolov. His work was of the art brut kind, and he existed on the very edge of society. Salák was most satisfied when his surroundings let him devote himself to his activities, afraid that his fantasy worlds would be labelled as a manifestation of madness. He was not interested in any feedback, only in the work itself. The result of his concentrated, decades-long work is a unique oeuvre teetering between painting and conceptual and ecological projects. For many years, he’s been planting and tending a distinct type of mountain pine — a rare endemic species whose existence he discovered in the Ore Mountains. Each of the more than one-thousand Salák trees has its own unique story. This is evidenced by folders full of photographs, drawings, charts and field notes. In addition to these, there’s also the Lost Land, as the author termed the original landscape, a green island in the middle of a coal quarry. There he carried out mapping, collected plants for herbaria, took photographs, and wrote. Also, ever since childhood, Salák had his Imaginary Lands, for which he created a series of fanciful paintings depicting events in the respective towns. Later he organised specially marked chess tournaments for these, the results of which he carefully documented. Another sphere of interest for Salák is the weather, which he has been observing since 1986; his notes, accompanied by drawings, are brimming with subjective experiences and colour.