ABOUT PALBRIC
Welcome to the Palbric Art Foundation. Art and music are the universal languages we can all enjoy; our vision is to use art to speak to the world.
Our objectives are to celebrate diversity, encourage and facilitate integration, in order to reduce xenophobia. We begin with our featured artist, Milos Reindl, a remarkable Czech-Canadian artist and onetime political refugee.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
INSIDE THE PALBRIC ART FOUNDATION
The Palbric Art Foundation team is a heterogenous group, yet we are united by our devotion to art, a shared philosophy, and a desire to make the world a more hopeful and peaceful place. We are Czechs, Slovaks, Canadians, and Brazilians; we are men and women, grandmothers and grandfathers, daughters and sons, mothers and fathers. We are humans with hearts.
Michael Cukier
FOUNDER AND SENIOR DIRECTOR
The son of WWII refugees, Michael Cukier was born in Tel Aviv, Israel. Emigrating with his family to Italy and later Canada, Cukier learned firsthand the richness of diversity, education, culture and integration, and the benefits they offer both new immigrants and their host countries.
Philanthropy was central to Cukier’s upbringing and family life. His grandfather’s philanthropy was measured in the employment he created, and the dignity he restored to those displaced by war. His father and uncle championed Jewish Education through the Cukier Goldstein-Goren Foundation.
Following a successful commercial real estate career in both Montreal, Canada, and most recently, Prague, Czech Republic, Cukier retired from the real estate world in 2015 to pursue a new project: the Palbric Art Foundation. Concerned by the rising tide of xenophobia in the world, Cukier sought a way to address the refugee and immigrant issue in a constructive and fraternal way. He found that medium in art.
Introduced to Milos Reindl by a longtime friend of the artist, Ms. Renata Hochelber, Cukier was immediately drawn to the artist’s unique style and free use of color, as well as his compelling story. A staunch believer in Reindl’s talent, Cukier’s private art collection includes a significant number of original Reindl works. When seeking the ideal artist for the Palbric Art Foundation’s first project, Cukier’s thoughts naturally turned to that talented yet relatively unknown former refugee: Milos Reindl.
MICHAEL CUKIER
Founder and Senior Director
wolfgang noethlichs
LIBRARIAN, ARCHIVIST, CONSULTANT
Wolfgang Noethlichs first met Milos Reindl in the late 70s, on a visit to Montreal. What began as a chance encounter quickly led to a lifelong friendship and collaboration between the two, which further developed when Noethlichs emigrated from his native Germany to Canada in 1982.
Working by day as the Director of the Library of the National Theatre School of Canada, Noethlichs became the driving force in organising and describing the totality of Reindl's artistic work. Devoting much of his personal time to the cause, Noethlichs’ ultimate aim was, and remains, to present to the public the man and the art that is Milos Reindl, so as to preserve the cultural treasure he created and give it the visibility it deserves.
Noethlichs is the editor of a detailed catalog of Reindl's painted work, covering the years from 1967 to 1999. Featuring a text by the famed Canadian art historian and critic François-Marc Gagnon, the catalogue was launched at the first major exhibition of Reindl's work at the Centre d’exposition de l’Université de Montréal in January 2002. Co-curated by Noethlichs, Renata Hochelber, and Andrée Lemieux, the exhibition was the first of several international shows, most notably the Prague Castle exhibition in 2004.
Today, Noethlichs is completing the catalogue raisonné of the artistic work of Milos Reindl as well as overseeing the construction of a virtual archive covering the life and artistic career of this great artist.
WOLFGANG NOETHLICHS
Librarian, Archivist, Consultant
Michèle Lemieux
LIBRARIAN, ARCHIVIST, CONSULTANT
Michèle Lemieux is an internationally renowned children’s book illustrator of more than 15 titles, including «Nuit d’Orage» (Stormy Night), winner of the prestigious Bologna Ragazzi Award. Translated into over 20 languages, the book was adapted into an animated film by the National Film Board of Canada (NFB), launching Lemieux’s career in film animation and winning an equally prestigious Crystal Bear at the International Berlin Film Festival.
Lemieux is a professor at the École de design de l’Université du Québec à Montréal, as well as the only animator in the world working with the unique Alexeïeff-Parker pin screen. Invented in Paris in the 1920s, the pin screen was used to create Lemieux’s second animated film, Here and the Great Elsewhere, in 2012.
Lemieux became a student of Milos Reindl (himself a protégé of the renowned cubist painter, Emil Filla) in the early ’70s at Universitė Laval in Quebec City, Canada. Reindl’s strong personality and his teaching skills made such an impression on Lemieux that, in addition to the one compulsory drawing course required by the program, she attended all the courses offered by Reindl.
Throughout the following years of her studies, Reindl became her artistic mentor and later a lifelong friend, generously exposing her to books from his own library, and introducing her to the world of visual arts. As an act of "Shemirah", Lemieux is now protecting her mentor's soul, represented by his art, as it travels from obscurity to preeminence.
MICHÈLE LEMIEUX
Filmmaker, Graphic Artist, Consultant
renata hochelber
CHIEF CURATOR
Renata Hochelber was a close, personal friend of Milos Reindl. Hochelber curated and organized a large retrospective posthumous exhibition of his work at Prague Castle in 2004, as well as a first smaller exhibition in his native Prague at the Gallery Bayer & Bayer in 2003. Her admiration for this brilliant, yet obscure colorist, and her own exposure to the plight of the displaced person make her curatorial contributions particularly poignant.
Like Reindl, Hochelber was a young refugee from occupied Czechoslovakia. Shortly after leaving the country in 1968, she opened the Carneol Gallery in Sweden; later, emigrating to Montreal in the early ‘80s, she pursued her art career working directly with the famed Theo Waddington at his eponymous gallery.
A compelling challenge presented itself when Hochelber was invited to establish Landau Fine Art where with her knowledge, background, and experience she mentored Robert Landau. With Hochelber’s help, Landau uncovered his hidden gift for art, making the leap from successful furrier to art dealer, and becoming the first Canadian member of the prestigious French Syndicat National des Antiquaires, and a Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. Today Landau Fine Art is recognised as a world-class gallery.
With degrees from both Czech and Swedish universities, Hochelber has, for the past 40 years, been involved with many aspects of the visual arts as a gallery owner, director, curator, as well as an agent for several Czech, Swedish and Canadian artists. It was Hochelber who introduced Reindl to Michael Cukier in 1998, a meeting that would prove life-changing for Cukier, and instrumental to Reindl’s legacy.
RENATA HOCHELBER
Chief Curator
denise Zachar
CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER
Denise Zachar (née Smolkova) began her artistic career at a young age, with a position at the oldest photography gallery in the Czech Republic, Galerie 4. There she developed her skills in public relations and archive management, and participated in the production of the "Cheb Backyards" multicultural festival, as well as several Czech-French exhibitions. Zachar studied performing arts and theatre history in Prague, and continued her education in visual and performing arts history at the Université de Lorraine, France.
Back in Prague, Zachar gained experience with several years at the DOX - Center for Contemporary Art where a happy accident introduced her to her future husband and business partner Richard Zachar, an award winning architect and designer whose genius required some disciplined management oversight; together they established Phicture, a successful graphics and architecture firm.
In 2014, the pair were brought in to share their insights on art and curatorship, alongside Renata Hochelber, to create a unique exhibition space inside Le Palais Art Hotel Prague. Designed to showcase original pieces by Milos Reindl and Le Corbusier, this was the Palbric Art Foundation at its inception.
Zachar seized the opportunity to bring her youthful enthusiasm and management skills to this nascent art foundation. In her own words: "Working at the intersection of creative genius and practical realities is where I want to be; and I want the world to ask "who was Milos Reindl before he became Milos Reindl?"
DENISE ZACHAR
Chief Operating Officer
Indira Gumarova
MEDIA ADVISOR
Indira Gumarova is a dynamic and multilingual marketing professional with 15 years of PR experience in New York’s creative industry. Gumarova’s client list includes notable Broadway theater productions, authors, musicians and fashion designers. She has promoted documentary films on a wide range of subjects including science, health and Islam.
Gumarova, a Prague Castle resident who has been based primarily in Prague since 2014, has quickly become an influential participant in the city’s cultural scene, promoting local businesses and cultural events. A native Tatar, Gumarova is fluent in English and Russian, and speaks conversational Czech. This rich multicultural background has naturally enabled her to take a leading role in the life of Prague's diplomatic community. She is the trade director of a Czech-Azerbaijan company, and Senior PR Consultant of the Czech-Slovak-Chinese Chamber.
Gumarova is involved with several public campaigns and media projects focused on immigration issues and the integration of minorities. As a Muslim-American, public figure, and recent immigrant to Prague, Gumarova brings a unique perspective to the topics of immigration and integration within Czech society.
Working with Palbric Art Foundation’s Michael Cukier, Gumarova created a series of essays touching on these topics. The essays appear in the Do Not Pass By exhibition alongside a collection of film posters by Milos Reindl, the Czech-Canadian artist and one-time political refugee.
INDIRA GUMAROVA
Media Advisor