Eliška Bartek - Switzerland Erratic Photography - Flowers and new works Opening: Friday, 12. February from 7pm Book signing with the artist Introduction by: Gunther Dietrich, Gallery owner and publisher PHOTO EDITION BERLIN Dr. Bernd Fechner, photomarketing.de and board member of Sektion Art, Market and Law of the German Society of Photography (DGPh) Eliška Bartek is probably one of the most diverse contemporary artists. Not only does she experiment with different media such as painting, photography and video, she explores each medium in depth. In her first solo exhibition at Photo Edition Berlin new photographic works will be on show. "Flowers" are prominent in the works of Irving Penn, Robert Mapplethorpe, Nobuyoshi Araki, Peter Fischli/David Weiss, or Thomas Florschuetz and often stand for the limits of visible perception, notions of beauty and the ephemeral. Eliška Bartek continues and expands this tradition, producing breathtaking images with her own signature of light, form and colour. On the occasion of the release of her new book "Flower Power", published Jan. 2010 by the DuMont Buchverlag Köln - Matthias Harder (ed), Helmut Newton Foundation, Berlin; the series "Und Abends blüht die Moldau" will be one main focus of the exhibition. www.dumont-buchverlag.de ERRATIC PHOTOGRAPHY The artist has come to be increasingly interested in the subconscious and the mystic, the sense that there is another reality behind pictures, that remains unshown. It is this unshown reality that Eliška Bartek focuses on in her recent work, as in this 2008 series of black and white photographs. Created on a journey to Abu Dhabi, the series reveals both a hightened sensitivity for the void and a profound curiosity for orientation in an unknown culture. By working with time exposure and camera in motion, the artist succeeds to capture the fluid image of a megacity at the moments of departure and arrival on its airport. She presents us with a sense of tension which builds up in transitional moments of arrival and departure, and which seems to correlate with the discrepancy between image and non-image, longing and disappointment, familiarity and estrangement, expectation and passiveness. The exhibition also includes Photo- and Chemigrams from new series. Parallel to her exhibition at the Haus am Lützowplatz, Berlin from 11 March - 20 April 2010 with painting and video Eliška Bartek presents her photography works from this series at PHOTO EDITION BERLIN. SHIFTING MOUNTAINS Her previous solo exhibitions in Warsaw, Paris and St. Petersburg were mainly dedicated to photography. "Painting with light", whether in photography or actual painting has been the driving force behind her work for the past 20 years. Eliška Bartek followed Hodlers traces in 2009, and went on a painterly journey through the Swiss Alps around Bern. Unlike Hodler she does not show the sensuous grandeur of an undeniably majestic nature in rhythmic harmony of heaven and earth. The severe reduction to black and white, together with a distinct scraping technique make reference to the tradition of expressionist woodcut, for instance the work of Ernst Ludwig Kirchner. The mountain landscape appears in mystical flare from a black depth, and seems at the same time energetic and raw. Bartek confronts Hodlers rhytmical mountainscape with a nervous pulsative and vibrating nature. No majestically looming crests but rather an uncanny apparition emerging from complete darkness. The artist responds to Hodlers timeless beauty and quietness with a heightened momentary presence. Instead of spheric symbolism ecstatic unleashing. Bartek is aware of the tragic biographical weight that clings to the painting of the "Stockhornkette with Thunersee", which had been forced from the owners who died in Auschwitz, and is still subject of a legal battle concerning art theft from the National Socialists.To a certain extent Hodlers peaceful world reappears in Barteks paintings as one that has witnessed the atrocities and deep human suffering of the second world war. It can no longer be contemplated with "innocent" eyes. Barteks way of dealing with Hodlers landscapes indirectly denotes this dreadful context. The once cosmic idyll of Thunersee is charged with the disturbing experience of death.The covering of the alps through mass media and the Tourist industry has lead to a disenchantment of the once mighty and threatening mountains. In Barteks images the seeming grasp and domination of nature dissolves and the latter appears again strange and uncanny: an existential, material-spiritual field of forces. (Matthias Haldemann, Kunsthaus Zug) BOOK RELEASE: On the occasion of the solo exhibition at ROSPHOTO, the State Russian Center for Photography in St. Petersburg, Russia, appeared a 120pp book, "Silence", with essays by Christoph Tannert, Magda Durda, Christina Wendenburg and Gunther Dietrich. The book assembles photographic works from 2004 - 2009. ISBN 978-3-00-028291-1 Book order for the price of 20 Euro in the gallery or via Amazon special edition + C-Print 13 x 18 cm from the Series "Und Abends blüht die Moldau" 2004 or from the Series: "O.T. - Abu Dhabi" 2008 Open Edition Book plus Print: 300 Euro with two Prints: 500 Euro Artist Website: www.eliska-bartek.de

Eliška Bartek - Schweiz Erregte Fotografie - Blumen und neue Arbeiten Vernissage: Freitag, 12. Februar ab 19.00 Uhr Die Künstlerin ist anwesend. Zur Eröffnung sprechen: Gunther Dietrich, Galerist und Verleger PHOTO EDITION BERLIN Dr. Bernd Fechner, photomarketing.de und Vorsitzender Sektion Kunst, Markt und Recht der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Photographie (DGPh) Eliška Bartek zählt zu den vielseitigsten zeitgenössischen Künstlerinnen. Sie experimentiert nicht nur mit Malerei, Fotografie und Video, sondern erforscht jedes Medium mit großer Intensität. Ihre erste Einzelausstellung bei PHOTO EDITION BERLIN zeigt neuere fotografische Arbeiten. "Blumen" stehen bei Irving Penn, Robert Mapplethorpe, Nobuyoshi Araki, Peter Fischli / David Weiss, oder Thomas Florschuetz oftmals für den Zweifel am Sichtbaren, für Schönheit und Vergänglichkeit. In atemberaubender Weise stellt sich Eliška Bartek in ihrer Handhabung von Lichttechnik, Formen und Farben in die Tradition dieses Genres und entwickelt es ebenso eigenständig wie markant weiter. Anlässlich des zeitgleich im Buchhandel erscheinenden Werkes "Flower Power" beim DuMont Buchverlag, Köln - Hrsg. Matthias Harder, Helmut Newton Stiftung, Berlin bildet die Serie "Und Abends blüht die Moldau" den Schwerpunkt der Ausstellung. www.dumont-buchverlag.de "Erregte Fotografie" sind Momentaufnahmen aus den Städten Abu Dhabi, Paris, London und St. Petersburg. Diese schwarzweiß-Serie entstand in den vergangenen beiden Jahren und war bereits in internationalen Gruppen- und Einzelausstellungen, u.a. auf dem Warschauer Fotofestival und dem Int. Lianzhou Photofestival (LIPF08), China zu sehen. Folgt man dem Entstehungsprozess der Bilder durch Langzeitbelichtungen und bewegter Kamera, so ist es im Wesentlichen dem Impuls und der Erregung der Künstlerin zu verdanken, eine Spannung entstehen zu lassen zwischen der Diskrepanz von Bild und Nicht-Bild, von Sehnsucht und Nichterfüllung - zwischenmenschlicher Annäherung und Entfremdung. Parallel zur Ausstellung in der Galerie hat die Künstlerin eine Einzelausstellung "Berge versetzen" mit Schwerpunkt Malerei und Video im Haus am Lützowplatz, Berlin vom 11. März bis 25. April 2010 Buchveröffentlichung: Anlässlich der Einzelausstellung bei ROSPHOTO, dem State Russian Center for Photography in St. Petersburg, Russland ist ein 120-seitiges Fotobuch "STILLE" mit Textbeiträgen von Christoph Tannert, Magda Durda, Christina Wendenburg und Gunther Dietrich erschienen. Das Buch versammelt fotografische Arbeiten aus den Jahren 2004 bis 2009. ISBN 978-3-00-028291-1 Bestellungen für 20 Euro in der Galerie oder bei Amazon Webseite der Künstlerin: www.eliska-bartek.de