February 26 - March 4, 2003

Ends March 29. Vodickova 36 (foyer of the cinema in Lucema Palace), Prague i-New Town. Open daily 10 a.m.-l0 p.m. GaW,;.le ltavin-Josef Istler Ends V March 16. Masal}kovo nab!. 36, Prague i-New Town. Open daily 10 a.m.-noon and 1-6 p.m.

I GALLERIES I C

Paint it black and white

Ceco's styles shift, but the monochromatic palette remains
By
PAUL WILSON

Galerie Zdenek Sklenar-Karel MaUch Ends April 5. Smetanovo nab!. 4, Prague l-old Town. Open Wed.-Sat. 1-6 p.m. Galerie ZIatii husa-Antonin Malek Works from the 1960s. Ends March 31. OlouM 12, Prague l-old Town. Open Wed.-Sun. 10 a.m.-l p.m. and 2-6 p.m. Komomi galerie domu fotografie JosefaSudka {Josef Sudek House of Photography)-Once More, Prague Under Water A selection from the exhibitionof photographs of the August floods thiltwas shown earlier this year at Old TownHall. Ends March 9. Nam.
FranzeKafky 3jMaiselova 2, Prague 1.-old Town. Open Tues.-Sun. 10 a.m.-7 p.m.

FORTHE POST In his current retrospective, Bosnian abstractionist Sabuhadin Ceco presents a universe of black and white. His vast canvases are smeared with tar, pitch.I h d al' b I back gouac e an charco , m a so ute contrast to the stark alabaster backgrounds. . The juxtaposition of black and white inevitably leads to further binary oppositions - good and evil, light and dark, God and Satan, C~olic and Protestant and, on a microcosmic scale, the divided nature of man. Arch-provocateur and musician Boyd Rice describes "fake duality" as creating "an abyss in man's consciousness." With little narrative to this exhibition, it is not clear whether Ceco intends to highlight this chasm or if his art is part of .it. Philosophical musings aside, Ceco's art speaks for itself as an obiective exploration
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Leica Gallery Prague-'-Edward SteicI\en Portraits by this importaut modernist photographer

(1879-1973). Ends March 30. Nej;ySs{ purkrabstvi (Burgrave's Palace) at Prague Castle. Open daily 10 a.m.-6 p.m.

Museum Kampa-Emilie Benes Brzezinski: Dialogue With Wood Large-scale sculptures. Ends March 16. Josef Albers works by Bauhaus artist Josef Albers on loan from the Milan Dobes Museum in Bratislava. Ends March 16. U Sovovjch mljinu 2,
Prague i-Kampa Island. Open FrL'-Mon. 1.0 a.m.-5 p.m.

~ ~ at Galerie Mimes Ends March 13.

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NationaIGalieryatPaiac
1IR;kjdI-11Ie CiesEJn Madema This ellIWJilioO presents a statue

of Madonna <m Chid dali"l: from the 13605 tt-a ""as cIiscO'ored not 10Ilg ago ,n C:eszyn. Poland. ..

of form and texture. His 1990Meetingis a massive white gauzebacked piece, with irregular gray stains pinned down by

Masarykovo
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Obecni gaIerie beseda---Matej Oher Paintings and drawings. Ends March 30. Ma~ostranSk{; nam. 21,
Tues.-Sun. 1-6 p.m. Palac Akl'opoIIs--MicheIIe Mayes; Pleasure Grounds This Pragueresident Englishartist is presenting a series of photographs in which she has created <m documented her own "landscapes" built from color and light Ends March 1.6. KUbelikova 27. ~ 3-Ziikov. The cafe is open Mon.--Ri. 10 a.m.-midnight, sat-Sun. 4 p.m.-midnight; IKlIks in the /obt1t can be viewed 7 p.m.-5 a.m. on days when there is a show. ValdStejnska jizdama {Wallenstein Riding SChool)-vaelav Broil( This National Galleryexhibition covers all the genres the artist worked in, from portraiture and still Iifes to landscapes and bucolic scenes. See Review,p~e C20. Ends May 4. l/.aldsteJnska 3, Prague i-Mala Strana. Open Tues.-Sun. 10 a.m.- 6 p.m. Prague i-Mala Strana. Open

cycle At tJu: Tailor's, a third dimension appears, with the signature black., seT. lines .. .. pentme now suggestmg pnmmYe vehicles. With a simple change in the form of the canvas (to a vertical banner-like shape) in Pushing Through (1993) and Untangled (199~) be . ' finds greater space to weave his monochromatic threads. In White Stitch. also from 1993, CeCo effects a revolution in style by simply inverting his ~coIor al tte" that bI k . the back P e .so . ac~. .ground mto which frenetic white s90irls are etched. The only trace of Ceca's sn'Ie .. . his - des' remamm~ ~ most recent 90'0 . IS, not surpnsmgly, the black and white. Wolves and SheqJ (2000) is a stunning triptych of screenprinted images. The flISt is a softened portrait of a wolf preparing to pounce while the second
'

COURTESY

ART

Ceco's recent work shows a fascination with screenprints and mixed media.
shows a startled sheep superimposed on the wolfs eyes, capturing the exact moment when the victim becomes aware of the predator's intentions. Finally, Behind the Curtain (2001) develops the thematic opposition of birth and death with a double screenprint of a dying horse, frantically kicking the air, alongside a baby being born. PerlJaps he should have stayed in the abstract. When CeCo converts his formal themes into concrete images, his work can devolve into sentimentality.

Veletrini palac (National Gallery Collections of 19tJl.Century and Modem and Contemporary Art)Josef Ryzec: In Honor of Pablo Picasso In the museum's Mala dvorana (Small Hall)Ryzecwiliin situ create copies of two paintings by Picasso, Cat Catching a Bird and Cat Devouring a Bird, which were made in reaction to Hitler's invasion of Czechoslovakia March 15, 1939; Ends March 30.
Oukelskjch hrdinu 47, Prague 7-Holesovice. Open Tues.-Sun. 10 a.m.-6 p.m.

March 2. Smetanovo nab!. 6, Prague l-old Town. Open 10 a.m.-1. p.m. and 2-6 p.m.

Galerie Jeleni-Nadace a centrum pro soueasne umeni (Foundation and Center for Contemporary Art)Jiii HaVliCek: otus3 and Solaris L Ends Friday, Feb. 28. Jelen{ 9, Prague 1-Hradcany. Open 1.0
a.m.-5 p.m.

for Art(NcFU),Whichtook over operation of this gallery at the beginning of the year. Ends Sunday, March 2. -Narodn{ 30,
Prague i-New Town. Open week

Window Gallery--Michael Marriott: Extra/ordinary and Ming Wong Two separate exhibitions by
des@:lef Maniott and meQI8-<lftist ~ l:iIIIlJ.."a BIIIiirIt-

Galerie Navriitil-Svatopluk KlimaS: Flash Klimes continues his longstanding interest in fire and perforation to cre.ate effects on canvas, paper or photographs. Ends Sunday, March 2. Tomasskal0,
Prague 1-Mala Strana. Open

_ days 10 a.m.-l p.m., 2-6 p.m., Sat. and Sun. 1-6 p.m. Galerie Via Art-lvana Lomovii:In the Distance Ends Friday, Feb. 28. Resslova 6, Prague 2-New Town. Open 1-6 p.m. Komunikacni prostor Linhartovy nadace {Galleryof th" Linhart Foundation)-Jiii Motak Ends Friday, Feb. 28. Skolska 28,
Prague i-New a.f)l.-6p.m. Town. Open 11

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