After a long and artistic life, Colini (Vojen Wilhelm Cech) died in February 2010 in Scranton, Pennsylvania.

His wife Margaret (Megan) Cech died in South Carolina in 2018.

   Note: Some of the paintings within this site contain nudity and/or depictions of violence.

Remembrance of Places Past VIII; egg Tempera

For an additional view of Colini's Paintings with descriptions of when and where they were completed click here: http://d2.gap.net/colini/Virtual.ASP

Article About the Artist: The Haunting World of Colini

- Malcom Preston, New York Newsday

Colini marches to the beat of a different drummer. His images are from another time, another place. His is a magical world, its landscape strange and haunting. The inhabitants of this never, never land are given to wearing odd uniforms, even armor. Sometimes they stand, silent and impassive. Sometimes they engage in unusual and puzzling tasks. Often they carry banners and pennants, even long spears. Some play instruments, some juggle, some pray. Always they are enigmatic.

There is a rather medieval look to Colini's work. The surfaces are smooth and the polish of the glazes lends a jewel-like glow to the panels. Forms are precisely drawn and very carefully rendered. While the scale is small, intimate, there is a sense of the infinite in the deeply placed, distant horizons. From the sharp, all pervading light of his foregrounds, Colini moves our eye gently to the wonderfully glowing haze of the deeply set background landscapes.

Yet the iconography, the meaning of these carefully executed paintings remains obscure. Do they speak of myth, a legend, some arcane rite long since passed into oblivion? We cannot tell. And that is the compelling aspect of these pictures. For it is that enigmatic quality which requires us to supply the meaning: to make explicit for ourselves that which is implicit in the work.

The centuries that separate Bosch from Chirico disappear in Colini's oeuvre. The unnatural merges with the natural to become the supernatural. Weird beasts and birds take part in aberrant behavior, the figure of a half-man, half-horse serenades an erotic, nude female dancer. There are Bishops and Cardinals, cats and lizards, lush flowers and stone walls and arches, all revealed to us with astonishing clarity.

Still we are left with questions. Is the world of Colini a garden of earthly delights, or a nether world of perdition? Are the distant cities a place of heavenly peace, far removed from the seductions of the erotic nudes and the militancy of the soldiers? Or are these panels illustrations of long forgotten tales? Whatever is the case, and each of us must decide for ourselves, Colini's work provides us with a delight for both our eye and our mind.

All images contained in this site are the sole property of Vojen Cech's heirs and owners of the original works. Any use of the images is subject to the laws of copyright and must be approved in writing by the owners.

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