Paige Wery, principal of The Good Luck Gallery, has announced that the first-ever solo exhibition of Anna Zemánková’s rarely seen beaded and embroidered works, along with many of her collages and drawings, are on view through July 9th, at 945 Chung King Road, in L.A.’s Chinatown Arts District.

Says Ms. Wery, “I am thrilled to present the work of Anna Zemánková to a new generation of art collectors and enthusiasts. Throughout her often-troubled life Zemánková cultivated a unique personal botany in crayon, ink and oil pastel, creating her own singular realm of emotionally charged lyrical abstraction.”

The artist was born in Moravia (today part of the Czech Republic) in 1908. She worked as a dental technician before marrying a military officer and subsequently dedicated her life to raising four children, one of whom, her first-born son, died in infancy - a tragedy that Zemánková never completely recovered from.

One of her sons, a sculptor, provided her with materials and encouraged her to produce art as an antidote for the persistent melancholy that afflicted her. During the pre-dawn hours, while the rest of the world slept, Zemánková listened to classical music and drew anomalous biomorphic forms that quivered and pulsated with a life of their own; stamens that rippled like electrical currents, tendrils that wined, spiraled and unfolded into otherworldly blossoms. These subtle and delicately hewn exude a powerful presence. “I am growing flowers that are not grown anywhere else,” said Anna Zemánková in describing her artwork.

Although her subject matter remained much the same, a number of different phases-marked by her adoption of new mediums, including collage, embroidery, and beadwork – define Zemánková’s artistic career. She was a restless, questing spirit who kept working even after both of her legs were amputated due to severe diabetes.

In the absence of gallery shows, Zemánková held “open house” exhibitions every few years, and her work caught the eye of Jean Dubuffet who included several of her pieces in the Collection de l’Art Brute Lausanne, the world’s most notable Outsider Art collection.

In 1979, Zemánková achieved significant recognition when she was featured alongside Henry Darger, Martín Ramírez and others in the groundbreaking group show at London’s Hayward Gallery, which was the first major exhibition to give art world exposure to self-taught visionary artists.

More recently, eighteen of Zemánková’s works were included in the seminal 2013 Venice Biennale, organized by Masimilliano Gioni, director of the New Museum, in New York—the first time in the venerable contemporary art exhibition’s 118 year history that the work of Outsider artists was represented.  Thirty years after her death, interest in Zemánková has never been greater. Shows of her work will be up exhibited at the Collection de l’Art Brut Lausanne and the Cavin-Morris Gallery in New York.

Gallery hours are: Wednesday through Sunday, Noon to 6 p.m. For more information, visit www.goodluckgallery.com