There are works of art that engage the viewer right away. You look, you see a tree and you think you got it. They might, however, lack mystery or an impulse that triggers your imagination. Romana Rotterova’s unique prints with circles, curves and velvety lines offer you just that – a mysterious story of quietly intense perception.
Romana Rotterova, Relationships I, 1968, intaglio
From summer 1986 until fall 1987, the renowned artist Jiri Kolar, an ‘old man’ (as he described himself), and young French writer Beatrice Bizot corresponded daily – he mailed her a collage, she wrote him a letter. Small collages, postcards, short letters, sometimes just a few sentences. But every single day. For Kolar, it was an attempt to motivate and encourage a talented young woman to pursue her dreams. Little he knew when he proposed the exchange that it would actually change her path.
Photo of a catalog for ‘Korespondaz’, an exhibition at the National Gallery in Prague (thank you, Alena!).
Strangely enough, I had to move over the Atlantic Ocean to discover many Czech and Slovak artists of the 20th century avant-garde. Jiri Kolar (1914 – 2002), a prolific Czech poet, visual artist and translator, created a vast body of work, collages, that prompted my recent explorations in printmaking and its application for relief and 3D work.
I met artist Sue Karnet in a way typical for New York – at a random ‘meet-up’ gathering of like-minded people searching for connection; we clicked when discussing art and our hearts filled with joy when we found out we also shared a Czech background. Her father, a Czech journalist and writer Jiri Karnet, settled in New York; Sue was born a New Yorker.
When I visit Sue at her studio, we can spend hours talking about everything related to art, the art history classes she teaches, what we struggle with in our work or whether it’s worth gallery hopping anytime soon. During my last visit in February, her studio was filled up with canvases and new sculptures of her popular series of Butoh Dancers. As she has been preparing the artworks for her upcoming exhibition at BBLA Gallery, I asked her a series of questions about her creative endeavors.
Photo: Artist Sue Karnet in her studio in East Village, 2013. Photo by Katerina Kyselica.
When I met two years ago New York print dealer Marvin Bolotsky and learned about his vast collection of Central and Eastern European prints, I didn’t hesitate to offer a collaboration to exhibit Czech and Slovak prints at the BBLA Gallery. In January, we mounted an exhibition entitled “Celebrating Print: Masters of Czech and Slovak Printmaking” presenting at BBLA Gallery on Upper East Side unbelievable number of 58 works by 27 Czech and Slovak artists. Crème de la Crème.
Katerina Kyselica | kadsny.PRINT 