Style Options
feat. Richard Fremund, Vladislav Vaculka and Vladimír Vašíček
Curator: Pavel Vančát
Dominik Art Projects, ul. Mikołajska 5/2
open 10-31.05
WED-FRI: 12:00-18:00; SAT-SUN: 12:00-16:00
Miroslav Tichý holds a unique position among the classic figures of Czech photography. Living in the provincial town of Kyjova in Moravia, he is a misanthrope and a talented painter who has made use of the photographic medium in a curious way. His photographs are far from technically perfect, and feature almost exclusively images of women captured in prosaic, everyday form. The growing popularity of Tichý's photographs over the past few years prompts questions about his place in the contemporary arts scene. The curator of the Krakow exhibition, Pavel Vančát, suggests turning attention to the artist himself and his real-life figure, which can be seen as a kind of artistic activity approaching performance art.
Miroslav Tichý, Untitled, undated. © M. Tichý
Miroslav Tichý was born in 1926 in Kyjova. In the post-war period he studied painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague. The artist?s abandonment of life in the capital, which was accompanied by his gradual departure from painting, intersected with the Czech communists' seizure of power. In 1948 Tichý returned to his hometown of Kyjova for good. The pictures created during this time sustained the tradition of the pre-war avant-garde, which was common practice among artists of his generation, and was meant to express opposition toward the social-realist canon inflicted by the authorities. In selecting the provinces, Tichý gradually radicalized his real-life figure, which remained closely linked to his artistic work. At the end of the 60s he devoted himself to photography. He found his subject-matter in his immediate surroundings, concentrating on the women who lived in Kyjova. He made his own camera, went out into the streets of his town and, often from in hiding, holding the camera under his sweater, photographed them in everyday, prosaic situations. The sphere of feminine intimacy was his challenge - his photos grasp carnal attributes, less displaying concrete people than a sort of feminine essence. His gaze is camouflaged, voyeuristic, typically masculine. Tichý's photographs cultivate a distance that is characteristic of the photographic medium - in them one perceives the pleasure of the observer who does not want to come any closer. In a formal respect, Tichý's photos are remarkable for their use of drawing - the artist 'finished' the prints by touching them up with pencil.
Miroslav Tichý, Untitled, undated. © M. Tichý
These photographs, like the figure of Miroslav Tichý himself, have earned increasing interest in Western European artistic circles in recent years. Harald Szeemann was fascinated by the Czech misanthrope. In 2008 the Pompidou Center organized a monographic exhibition of the artist's photographs. The efforts made by prestigious galleries and art institutions to get Tichý's works are met with indifference from the artist himself - he consistently refuses to appear at openings and ignores the press written about him. Tichý remains an isolated and individual artist ? the intriguing figure of this recluse provokes constant questions.
Miroslav Tichý, Untitled, undated. © M. Tichý
'Can Tichý's photographs even be called photographs' - is one such question, asked by the curator of the Krakow exhibition, Pavel Vančát.
Acknowledgments:
Slovácké Museum in Uherské Hradiště, Galerie Klatovy/Klenová, Vladimír Vašíček jr., Jiří Dunděra, Zdeněk Vašíček, Jana Hebnarová and Miroslav Tichý (www.tichyfotograf.cz)
Exhibition Partners:
Terryho ponožky/Terry’s Socks – specialist film shop, Prague (www.terryhoponozky.cz), RámyPasparty, Prague (www.ramypasparty.cz)
An exhibition prepared in cooperation with Dominik Art Projects.
(Click image to enlarge)
