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Ladislav Novák (1925, Turnov, Czechoslovakia – 1999, Třebíč, Czech Republic) was a Czech poet, visual artist, and experimenter whose work bridged surrealism, conceptual poetry, and mixed-media art. Known for his radical innovations in language and image, Novák was one of the key voices in Central Europe’s postwar avant-garde. Raised in Třebíč, Novák later studied Czech literature and history at Charles University in Prague, where he wrote his thesis on rhyme in the poetry of Vítězslav Nezval, a leading figure of Czech surrealism. During this period, he became involved with Prague’s surrealist circle, which deeply influenced his poetic and artistic direction. Novák spent most of his professional life teaching at a secondary school in Třebíč, but outside the classroom he was developing a pioneering body of work in experimental and visual poetry. Collaborating with figures such as Jiří Kolář and Josef Hiršal, he became a founding member of the Czech Group of Experimental Poetry, which explored new forms of poetic expression that merged sound, structure, and image. Throughout the 1960s, Novák developed unique techniques such as alchemage (a process involving chemical alteration of visual material) and froissage (a method of crumpling and interpreting paper to create new visual patterns). These approaches emphasized chance, play, and transformation—core values in both surrealist and conceptual practices. Despite his contributions, Novák faced political repression under the Communist regime. In 1979, he was officially banned from publishing or exhibiting in Czechoslovakia. Nonetheless, his work circulated internationally, with exhibitions across Europe and the United States, gaining recognition for its originality and defiance of formal boundaries. Ladislav Novák’s legacy lies in his ability to fuse word and image into a unified experimental language. His influence continues to resonate in the fields of concrete poetry, sound art, and visual literature, positioning him as a central figure in Czech postwar art history.