U okna / At the window

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Prof. Louise Lewis – Art Galleries of Los Angeles, USA

The article for the Czech Magazine Atelier

Vaclav Vaculovic at the CSUN Art Galleries              10/30/2002

Upon first entering the exhibition Vaclav Vaculovic: The Soul of the Sixth Sense,  at the Art Galleries of California State University Northridge, one is struck by utter tranquility and openness.  The forty-four monoprints of this contemporary Czech artist, best known for his painting, float in a luminous setting and beckon the viewer to draw near.  Once within the aura of an individual image, however, this sense of calm is belied by the emotional power and spiritual queries of the imagery.  In an intimate journey of ephemeral abstractions and androgynous figurations, the viewer connects with the artist's probing of the human condition, of the earth as a spiritual abode, and of the ambiguity of integrating the two into a search for the after-life.

The artist presents us, both in image and title, with a range of choices that ultimately merge into the eternal dualities common to many spiritual beliefs. The figure in Incantation seems suspended in a mystical reverie of hope while that in Alarming Visions  is in a nightmarish struggle against fate.   Landscapes such as the serene White Blossoms and the fiery Against the Flow of Time vie with one another for different metaphysical messages.   Cellular images ( At the Place Where the Brain Touches You)  supplement galactic images (Immersing River) in providing platforms to meditate upon the vastness of our universe and our place in it. While much of the imagery breathes sensuous earth tones, radiant flashes of red serve as a counterpoint both in energy and message.  The leit-motif use of white passages connects the two extremes, as do the supple brush strokes.

Although the artist has a strong interest in the writings of French theologian Teilhard de Chardin, his imagery is not necessarily Christian in tone, but rather more metaphysically universal in its quest for understanding life, death, and salvation.  Indeed the works range from existentialist despair (The Obdurate Roots of Pain) to joyful revelation (At The End of Time), without alluding to any specific icons or tenets of our world's diverse theologies.  Nevertheless there is, in this selection of works and as suggested by the titles, a contemporary sense of lament over the loss of interest in religious salvation.  The predominant secularism that has supplanted spirituality of previous eras, particularly in the Western world, deeply concerns the artist.  Yet this preoccupation is confounded by the sheer sensuality of his imagery.  Thus the unbearable uncertainties of probing the meaning of existence and eternity are soothed by the very tangible and seductive perceptions of the artist.