Czech and Slovak Artists Living in SD
The third Saturday in October made for a beautiful evening in the Lyceum Gallery in Horton Plaza, downtown San DIego. If by any chance you would wondered in, you may be enticed to join the crowd lively chatting in the gallery. You would hear both: perfect and imperfect English, cute and hard to guess accents, perfect Czech and Slovak, and more.
No matter of the cultural background, in unison the crowd admired the seventy or so pieces of expressive dynamic art ranging from oils, acrylics, graphite, mixed media to intriguing needlepoint. Live music complemented the ambiance, wine offered the sweet ease, appetizers and cakes teased culinary curiousity, beautiful women made you turn your head.
Art brings people together, takes down the walls of misunderstanding, capitalizes on the beauty around, reveals who we are and makes for a joyful happy gathering!
The evening belonged to the unique artists featured in an exhibit "Czech and Slovak Artists Living in San Diego". And here is a personal account of my experience thorough the gallery.
It was the explosive celebrations of life by Štefan Talian that charmed me, along with his sensual vulnerable themes finely yet energeticaly rendered, making me gaze upon the canvases and expect the paintings to come to live; the shimmering summer heat, strong presence of figures and the faraway places with the evocative scents of flowers expressed in the oils of Jarmila Yary Dluhos makes me wonder about her extensive talent for capturing reality and emotions; the heavily textured enticing expressionist-like oils of Andre Dluhos leave me yearning to step in his picture where I would happily become an inscopious observer; the philosophical questions expressed by the serene abstract renderings of Jan Chobolits make me swim in his canvases looking for the answers; the apt titles, the revealing, journal-reminiscing themes expressed in consistent unique visual language by Lenka Májková rattle my own emotions of securities and insecurities; the skilled homage to Dali and Cubist was found in Miroslava Mrázová and Eva Coleman who beautifully expresses quiet yearning to attain the unspoken.
George Mrázek with his fresh almost naive-like exxagerated composition brings a smile and familiarity. I celebrate Vladimir Dostálek state of the art photography where technical perfection meets his warm pleasing beauty of urban and nature scenes; Anna Hradský presented an exceptional needlepoint, her beutifully arranged color nuances and perfect precision reminding me of paint-like hues, is it really a nedlepoint...? Nicolette ZahradnÃk presents meticulously her sincere admiration of urban beauty close to her heart, her diligence to express herself as well as she could seeps from the canvases.
Ladislav Mráz manipulates photography in a attractive unique way that invies you to scrutinize and read his artwork rather than just to observe it. LÃba Janson displays a witty representation of mixed media alluring to the music of universe as a mean to the universal understanding, all her pieces rendered with accomplished skill of material choice and painter's qualities. Marie, Veronika, Tinka Peterka, this mother and daughters' team, chose to capture the fleeing notable moments of life into drawings or paintings in a similar way as words do into a haiku. Anita George finds her expression in attractive celebratory abstractions parading colors, shapes and lines in resin; it stands for an explosion of joy.
Textures, medley of dynamic, spontaneious or meticulous brushstrokes, dance of lines and colors, variety of themes and styles met in one inspirational show of talent, diligence, diversity and urge to express. I am glad I was present. I went into this project with expectations and left impressed beyond the expected.
The exhibits closes on November 30, 2015. Viisit Lyceum Space in Horton Plaza, 79 Horton Plaza, San Diego 92 101 anyday from 10 AM - 6PM, days of performances till 10 pm.
