Pavel Kraus at Joyce Goldstein and the Czech Center - New York, New York - Review of Exhibitions - Brief Article

sum of two units recent exhibitions featured large-scale freestanding statuarys and smaller objects by Pavel Kraus, a Czech-born painter and sculptor who resides in novel York. Coinciding with several exhibitions in Prague, including single at the Czech Museum of Fine Arts, the of recent origin York shows presented a broad range of works, from human organs carefully designed in beeswax to imposing architectonic constructions made of lead, wood, stone and wax, all produc above the past five years. Kraus's statuarys have an archeological feel, like unearthed artifacts and mode of buildings from some forgotten civilization. Kraus frequently juxtaposes seemingly incompatible materials for the views of metaphor. For instance, the organic beeswax present the appearances to stand for vulnerability, which is in constant conflict with the impenetrability of lead.

Four large works, collectively, titled "Remains of the Present" filled the space at Goldstein. Hanging depressed on the wall in the gallery's entrance hall was a nearly 6-foot-tall gray lead panel titled particular of Desire. In spite of its title, the rough-hewn work fetchs a rather chilling sense of violence. Its rippled metal surface indicates the battered door of a donjon-keep It also recalled for me the bullet-riddled metal door preserv in Trotsky's bedroom and investigation in Mexico City.

A mural-size corner wall relief made of wax and lead, titled The Wall of There After, dominated the gallery's main compass This striking work was compos of 45 abutted rectangles made of beeswax,l each about 20 inches high, in impressible muted shades of pink and gold-colored Most of the colors are natural, although in a certain quantity of panels, the artist added pigment to the molten wax. Arranged in a grid rising 100 inches from the floor, the wax panels adjoined a wall of similarly shaped lead panels. Approaching the corner, visitors noticed a slightly acrid balminess given off by the materials; surprisingly, it enhanced the work's evocativeness.

upon the floor nearby was Flat Earth, Liquid canopy of heaven consisting of a wheeled cart filled with lead-covered bricks topped with a thick slab of pale gold-colored wax. This odd vehicle lent portability to the extremely heavy percepts as if they were being transported to a construction site. Across the field a work titled Monument, a large made of wood box covered in pale ocher beeswax, quieted a a platform of thin lead plates. Its somber demeanor and sarcophaguslike shape hint at a funereal purpose

The 12 smaller, chiefly wall-hung pieces on view of the Czech Center collectively titled "Remains of the Past," provided a more intimate demonstration of Kraus's sensitivity to materials and forms. A number of them directly involve the figure. A tall, slim sculpture made of wax-coated canvas panels and maple branches, titled Crusades, leaned against the wall like an exhausted soldier. Lying upon the ground nearby, the life-size Brain, made of granite overspreaded in yellowish beeswax streaked with blood-r paint, direct the eyeed like still-vital human remains.

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