Sykora, Zdenek (1988). Line No. 50 [oil on canvas]. National Gallery in Prague.

This is a very interesting, intricate painting. The character of the work is energetic, lively, and spatially aware. Graceful use of curved lines cropped by the PF give the viewer the impression of being surrounded by the strokes. | 

A sense of space is built through diminution. It becomes ambiguous because of how some of the slighter elements, which seem further in the distance, overlap the thicker ones. Detail, value and purity are not used to build depth, but are used in the work for other purposes. Line is the field and the only positive element; negative white space is the ground. The color palette does not seem to use a conventional strategy; the primaries are the purist, the secondaries are present and diluted. For example, there are strokes that could be considered orange, but are more likely to be dirty reds. While the use of line as an element, in total, creates an effective illusion of plastic space, they do not vary in purity or value taken individually. The result is a combination of lines that are themselves decorative but do create depth when considered in whole. 

This work is not “static” but quite balanced. Slight and dense strokes and colors are presented in nearly equivalent proportions throughout the PP. Asymmetry applies, only because the horizontal and vertical halves are not literal reflections of each other. A single element harmonizes and dominates the work: curvilinear lines. Contrast is present but less of a priority. This is built through graceful versus abrupt changes in direction, an intuitive color scheme, variations in stroke thickness and the shape of the PF. The energy and volume of positive curves is perfectly balanced against the negative plastic space. More than elemental contrast, attention is achieved through motion and energy. Eye movement swirls in overlapping patterns from tangled areas, along dense strokes to other less complicated areas, and finally along the slight strokes that seem to sink into the canvas. 

This is an excellent, unified work supported by the professional and measured use of a single element. The viewer could easily be in the center of this tangled mess of strokes, in all directions. The way the PF is integrated into the PP leaves the impression that the elements surround the viewer in all directions.