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Daniela Safrankova- A Czech Landscape Painter in Prague

Saturday 1 March 2008

TALKING COLORS II

(Article by Bonnie Haberman for The Bridge Magazine)

Entering the Nova Sin gallery you are greeted by an explosion of vibrant colors, as if Petrin’s spring gardens had moved indoors for the winter. This is the effect of Daniela Safrankova’s nearly 50 canvases in “Talking Colours II” currently on view at the gallery.

On February 6^th, the painter hosted IWAP members, providing delicious home-baked treats and a gracious and informative talk on her inspiration, vision and creative process. Referring to her paintings as “my little children”, Daniela recounted her training from the age of 6 at a Czech State art school through her degree from the Academy of Performing Arts (DAMU), in Prague. Later, as a theatre and art teacher in California, she had a “hands on American experience”, and had traveled widely before returning to her native Prague 5 years ago.

Daniela revealed two worlds of her art, the inner and the outer. Transforming her experience of her surroundings, she “cherishes” these places and creates her own little world. But when she “sends her paintings out into the world”, it is her way of bringing happiness to people – communicating an experience of joy to soften life’s difficulties. Happiness practically bursts forth from her landscape canvases that whisper to you of Cesky Krumlov, Marianske Lazne, Brazilian courtyards, café-lined French streets. You feel as if you can bask in the intensity of her yellows, a result of being “too much under the sun” of California, the Caribbean, Brazil and Southern France. Influenced by Van Gogh and Mark Chagall, she creates a dialogue and tension between blues and yellows, especially in her interior scenes.

Painting in intense, mostly primary colors, she applies oils with regular brushes creating a flat surface. “These are not supposed to be realistic scenes”, and so she intentionally exaggerates the flatness. Applying varnish to the surface gives a satin finish, and sometimes the colors, especially the yellows, can take months to dry! Choosing mostly a 90 x 70 cm format, Daniela shows her practical side – “they can fit in the back of the family car!”

Several paintings follow the life of tulips, her favorite flower, capturing their cycle from early prim buds to wide-open blooms in “Ze zivota tulipanu I, II and III.” Dahlias dance in blues, reds and yellows, and in “Doutniky”, the multi-hued cattails march across the canvas with the precision of Hradcany guards.

In response to a question about symbols in her painting, Daniela remarked that although she has a “relationship with each painting”, it is the viewers who find their own vision or symbols as well as feel the joy of her paintings. Judging from the smiles on the guests faces, mission accomplished, Daniela.

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*Gallery manager, Pavel Hokynek, spoke of the history of Nova Sin gallery, from nunnery to exhibition hall – its redesign and renovation by the now one hundred-year-old Union of Creative Artists and architect Rossler. Of significant note is the glass ceiling which diffuses daylight perfectly, eliminating any harsh shadows which detract from sculptures and highlight the colors of paintings hung on its walls.