Otis/Parsons to Host Show of Contemporary Czech Art

Los Angeles will get its first in-depth look at contemporary Czechoslovakian art this summer at Otis Art Institute of Parsons School of Design. Dialogue/Prague/Los Angeles, an exhibition of works by 12 Czech artists, will be at the Otis/Parsons gallery from June 29 to Aug. 18. An auxiliary show pairing Czech and American art is expected to take place concurrently in another local exhibition space.

The Los Angeles event is the second half of an exchange that debuted last August in Prague. Three exhibitions of works by 15 Los Angeles artists were the centerpiece of the first half of the exchange, which included performances, other exhibitions and public forums on artistic freedom.

The project began in 1986 when Los Angeles artist Barbara Benish visited Czechoslovakia, the land of her ancestors, and met Czech writer and curator Zdenka Gabalova. The two women decided to organize exchange exhibitions, featuring emerging artists from both cities.

The Czech artists in the exchange are painters Tomas Cisarovsky, Jiri David, Stanislav Divis, Vladimir Kokolia, Jan Merta, Margita Titlova-Ylovsky and Josef Zacek; sculptors Michael Blazek and Stefan Milkov; installation artists Ivan Kafka and Vladimir Merta; and performance artist Tomas Ruller. Because of transportation costs, some of the artists will create works for the show after they arrive in Los Angeles, Benish said.

Exhibition co-curator Zdenka Gabalova and performance artist Tomas Ruller are expected to visit Los Angeles in January. Benish is currently trying to arrange a Los Angeles performance by Ruller as a benefit for the exchange, including funds for a catalogue. The Czechs published an illustrated catalogue of the exhibition in Prague.

Los Angeles participants in the exchange are Kim Abeles, Dawn Arrowsmith, Mark Cervenka, Habib Kheradyar, Robert Kingston, Deborah Lawrence, Karl Matson, Leland Means, Christian Mounger, Andrea Nadell, Kirk Phillips, Jeffrey Vallance, Jim Uyekawa and David Wells, as well as Benish.