Michal Škrovina’s pictures have their own poetics based not only on the selection of themes, but mainly on the way they are portrayed. They are characterized by pleasant and sometimes surprising colors. His pictures are so artistically distinctive that they are unmistakable from those of other artists. He finds inspiration not only in traditional Slovak glass painting, from which he mainly draws technically, but also from folk art of other countries and from insitné painting. He has been active since 1970. He collaborated with ÚĽUV for many years as a lecturer in glass painting. He presented his works at exhibitions and events both domestically and abroad – Slovak Folk Art in Paris (1982, 1993), The History of Europe in Visual Arts at the Slovak National Museum in Bratislava (1985), at the Slovak National Gallery in Zvolen (1985), in Čadca (1988), in Východná (1989), in Trenčín (1993), at the Little Carpathian Museum in Pezinok (1999). He is one of the prominent representatives of insitní art in Slovakia and his works are represented in the collections of many museums and galleries in Slovakia – Slovak National Museum in Bratislava, Slovak National Gallery in Bratislava, Orava Gallery in Dolný Kubín, … He regularly presents his work during the Days of Masters held annually in Bratislava.

“Michal Škrovina has permanently inscribed himself in the modern history of Slovak glass painting and also in other European countries, where he exhibited his works. This engineer architect by profession arrived at painting his pictures – it can be said – not only spontaneously, but also through a certain kind of inner preparation. It was based initially on knowledge of the Slovak material of glass painting, but also built on a good knowledge of the central Slovak countryside, especially that around his hometown. In his youth, he met there with many typical characters, who eventually, along with their names, became actors in his pictures. Another, perhaps subconscious, preparation consisted of visits to museums and galleries at home and abroad. In Škrovina’s paintings, everything he set out to do is fulfilled. He depicted evocative scenes from the Slovak countryside and the life of its people in unique stories and variations, portrayed in summer and winter atmospheres, rendering them with a distinctive, original handwriting, and painting faces and details in brownish-red contours. The Jánošík themes are presented more humorously than seriously. In the early pictures, religious – biblical motifs appeared more often than later, such as the Last Supper, in an unusual circular rendition seemingly viewed from a bird’s perspective, or the motif of Jonah and the whale or Adam and Eve. The colorfulness of Škrovina’s images is rich and impressive. The pictures of this painter are devoid of floral decor, which would not even fit into them and apparently would hardly become part of the plot and composition. Michal creates unique art. He constantly strives to revitalize the technique of painting on glass and at the same time give his pictures a completely new content, ensuring them an original, authorial form.”

(Source: Pišútová, I.: Paintings on Glass. Center for Folk Art Production, 2010)

In 2001, he received a significant award of master of folk art in the field of glass painting.

In addition to creating underpaintings on glass, he also works with wood – carving movable and static figures, birds, or other small miraculous creatures. He always completes his glass paintings with an original and handcrafted frame.

An overview of Michal Škrovina’s work is published in Marta Pastieriková’s book: Michal Škrovina, Stories from My Life, Publishing House of the Slovak Heritage, 2008