Miroslav Tichy --Why?

[Ghostman]

It is Art historians, galleries and curators who drive the art market and decide who gets to be who. Jeff Wall, now how do you suppose he got to be who he is? He is first and foremost an Art historian. I like his work, but it could easily be construed that he wrote himself into the book. I am pleased that you prefer aberration over abhorrence.

 

[pdeeh]

without getting all psychoanalytic about it, what's really interesting is that nearly 5 years after you opened this thread, you still seem hot under the collar about the subject.
Tichy's images are rather disturbing, and 5 years of disturbance says something for their power

 

[Ghostman]

without getting all psychoanalytic about it, what's really interesting is that nearly 5 years after you opened this thread, you still seem hot under the collar about the subject.
Tichy's images are rather disturbing, and 5 years of disturbance says something for their power

Anything that get people talking about art and quality and sustaining a conversation for 5 years can't be all that worthless.

 

[removed account4]

OK I guess I should just take it up the State funded Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney and ask why they spent on this unproven, hyped up, hipster "artist" This was not a couple of prints, it was a major show.

After all they did exhibit an extensive show of William Eggleston jointly with lesser known NZ photographer Laurence Aberhart (who knocked the sox off Tichy's aberrations) and currently Jeff Wall. Must have been a senior moment when they took on Tichy, but he was probably a hot item in all those expensive art magazines they read.

miroslav tichy is an unproven hyped up hipster "artist" ?

 

[erikg]

OK I guess I should just take it up the State funded Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney and ask why they spent on this unproven, hyped up, hipster "artist" This was not a couple of prints, it was a major show.

After all they did exhibit an extensive show of William Eggleston jointly with lesser known NZ photographer Laurence Aberhart (who knocked the sox off Tichy's aberrations) and currently Jeff Wall. Must have been a senior moment when they took on Tichy, but he was probably a hot item in all those expensive art magazines they read.

Yes, you should take it up with the curators at the museum. If they are doing their jobs they should be able to explain their reasoning to you. You may not ultimately agree but you should at least have an understanding about the choice. I would hope you go into it with an open mind however and not jump to the conclusion that they had "a senior moment" or they were swayed by "expensive art magazines".

 

[Noble]

When one is testing film and developers you shoot resolution charts and other test images you do not do so by shooting Halfdome or other AA subjects.

So it's either resolution charts or half dome. Are you sure there is no middle ground in there somewhere? A lot of us test out films to decide what we like and we have never taken a picture of a resolution chart. Testing out a film to see if it suits your purposes is more than just lp/mm. The subject matter I enjoy is not test charts. I test film on stuff I actually take pictures of. I'm not trying to write a scientific paper. I appreciate the resolution test results that are published and I certainly would like to know what the highest resolution film is but things like cost and tonality far outweigh lp/mm stats. Usually I will set up a scene with something white with texture and something black with texture. I will then try and have someone model for me so I can see what the skin tones are like and I will do this all outside so I can see wood, trees, grass, clouds, sky, metal. A few frames with different EIs and filters and I'm done. I then finish the roll shooting whatever I want. I've had multiple keepers off of test rolls. I own The Negative by Ansel Adams. I do not own a dedicated spot meter. I don't own a home made camera either. I like post people live somewhere in the middle. I read Ansel Adams and sometimes I say, yeah okay Ansel that's nice but photography isn't my day job.

That's the point. Sometimes we need to be made to feel uncomfortable.

No I mean my eyes can't focus. Not "I find a picture of a woman who got hit in the face 'uncomfortabel' to look at."

From the small amount of Tichy's work I have seen I am reserving any direct comment on it. The very fact that Tichy's work invokes an emotional response from you is an indication that his photographs are working at a certain level.

His photographs didn't evoke an "emotional response" any more than a pebble in my shoe would evoke an emotional response. I totally understand if his art means something to him and other people. There are things I like that even my girlfriend who likes me doesn't like. I can't expect the internet to agree with me.

 

[batwister]

I read Ansel Adams and sometimes I say, yeah okay Ansel that's nice but photography isn't my day job.

Do you talk to Ansel often?

No I mean my eyes can't focus. Not "I find a picture of a woman who got hit in the face 'uncomfortable' to look at."

I suggest you see your optician.

His photographs didn't evoke an "emotional response" any more than a pebble in my shoe would evoke an emotional response..

You're clearly not a ballet dancer...

 

[removed account4]

Do you talk to Ansel often?
I suggest you see your optician....

ansel adams was famous for saying things like that batwister. he said things like this in interviews
often times in the 1960s-1970s. one doesn't need to "talk to ansel" to use his quotes
... people often say "ansel adams said a negative is the score an print is the performance"
why don't you have these sorts of comments for them too?

i agree noble, primitive optics, broken glasses &c that tichy used give an unfocused effect that hurt when you look at them.
i used to photograph unfocused or with primitive optics often and i stopped because i used to get eye-ache and headaches from
viewing the images. i get the same headache when i look at " brass-lens wide open images " or "landscape / portrait lens wide open" images.
tichy did the best he could with what he had, and i think that is what i find remarkable about his work. trained as a sculptor,
his photographs ( or at least some of them ) look like sculptures rather than people photographed ... the "hotness" and dark OOF backgrounds.
i would imagine if anyone here on apug tried to make photographs as he did, they would probably fail. he knew his materials and equipment
well enough to succeed where most would fail, and he created a body of work as well.

===

ross

i have seen work by both the photographers you mentioned
( not the one from australia ) and while to a lot of people they are the epitome
of modern photography ... deadpan and posed portraits ...
they have never really done it for me. i know some people go nuts for this sort of stuff
as well as gurtsky and others in this new tradition
i find the work to be kind of mundane and oh humm ... kind of too staged and fake.
tichy's images have a surreal quality to them much like atget's work .
there isn't really much "to get" unlike the others mentioned where you have to read a treatise to "get it"

tichy to me is like the chuck bukowsky of czech photography ...
its too bad they don't make a feature film of him, his life, troubles and work. i'd pay to see it in a heartbeat.
( i have seen barfly, and private eye as well )

 

[Gerald C Koch]

OK I guess I should just take it up the State funded Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney

Now I understand your vitriol, the Australian government is wasting your tax dollars on something you don't like.

(Emphasis added)

This grubby old fart ...

How uncharitable. I hope you live long enough to suffer the challenges of old age.

 

[Gerald C Koch]

tichy's images have a surreal quality to them much like atget's work .

I am glad you brought this up. I noticed that there are several parallels in their lives.

Both worked in another medium before taking up photography. Atget was unsuccessful as a painter.
Both would be considered eccentric. For example, Atget lived on bread, milk and bits of sugar considering all other food as poisonous. He always wore the same rusty black coat as he worked.
Both were only recognized very late in life.
Both were championed by some one else. In Atget's case it was Bernice Abbott.
Both used very primitive or old equipment. But Atget had much better technique.
Both have now been panned on APUG. A rather dubious distinction.

Personally I much prefer Atget's work.

Atget has a crater on the planet Mercury named for him.

Jerry

 

[Ross Chambers]

Now I understand your vitriol, the Australian government is wasting your tax dollars on something you don't like.

(Emphasis added)



How uncharitable. I hope you live long enough to suffer the challenges of old age.

Spending my tax dollars, not wasting. Challenges of old age? Do you have time to hear about mine? It's also a time when speak your mind openly.

 

[Ross Chambers]

tichy did the best he could with what he had, and i think that is what i find remarkable about his work. trained as a sculptor,
his photographs ( or at least some of them ) look like sculptures rather than people photographed ... the "hotness" and dark OOF backgrounds.
i would imagine if anyone here on apug tried to make photographs as he did, they would probably fail. he knew his materials and equipment
well enough to succeed where most would fail, and he created a body of work as well.

===

ross

i have seen work by both the photographers you mentioned
( not the one from australia ) and while to a lot of people they are the epitome
of modern photography ... deadpan and posed portraits ...
they have never really done it for me. i know some people go nuts for this sort of stuff
as well as gurtsky and others in this new tradition
i find the work to be kind of mundane and oh humm ... kind of too staged and fake.
tichy's images have a surreal quality to them much like atget's work .
there isn't really much "to get" unlike the others mentioned where you have to read a treatise to "get it"

tichy to me is like the chuck bukowsky of czech photography ...
its too bad they don't make a feature film of him, his life, troubles and work. i'd pay to see it in a heartbeat.
( i have seen barfly, and private eye as well )

Using what was at hand to him: OK that is a point, I don't know how difficult it was in Soviet era Czechoslovakia to find gear,maybe they were all living in cardboard boxes.

If it isn't art, I don't know what it is.

I didn't dare say anything about Jeff Wall, I'd leave it as saying that I was really disappointed that the Soviet soldiers chatting shot wasn't included and there was nothing in that genre of his.

Bukovsky? Now that really helps. (deep breath) Don't care for him that much (except for "Post Office" which I read when I was mail sorter) but that does make some sense of Tichy, thanks. Maybe it's a Slav thing.

 

[Ross Chambers]

without getting all psychoanalytic about it, what's really interesting is that nearly 5 years after you opened this thread, you still seem hot under the collar about the subject.
Tichy's images are rather disturbing, and 5 years of disturbance says something for their power

Seriously, the thread came up as a new APUG post recently and since I was the originator I was interested and also felt that I should reply, sometimes I'm polite.

 

[Ross Chambers]

I am glad you brought this up. I noticed that there are several parallels in their lives.

Both worked in another medium before taking up photography. Atget was unsuccessful as a painter.
Both would be considered eccentric. For example, Atget lived on bread, milk and bits of sugar considering all other food as poisonous. He always wore the same rusty black coat as he worked.
Both were only recognized very late in life.
Both were championed by some one else. In Atget's case it was Bernice Abbott.
Both used very primitive or old equipment. But Atget had much better technique.
Both have now been panned on APUG. A rather dubious distinction.

Personally I much prefer Atget's work.

Atget has a crater on the planet Mercury named for him.

Jerry

Atget, now you're talking. Also comprehensive show in Sydney last year. We are spoilt.

 

[baachitraka]

He took photographs and printed them. I personally do not think he will mind the rest.

 

[Noble]

Do you talk to Ansel often?

I don't know if you are saying this to attack me or defend Ansel. I will assume you are saying this to defend Ansel. As I said I own his book The Negative. I have nothing against the guy. I am a hobbyist. I simply do not have the time money nor inclination to do everything Ansel espouses. I have no problem with him doing it. I'm glad he did it. I am a fan of his art and in my ill informed opinion he has done more for the field of photography than any other single artist I can think of. I'm still not going to run out and get a $300 spot meter tomorrow. That doesn't invalidate Ansel's technique. Me using an incident meter and getting on with taking my pictures is not a shot across the bow of Ansel.

I suggest you see your optician.

You're clearly not a ballet dancer...

Seriously man I am just giving my honest narrow opinion. I may have been a bit blunt. It's art. I was answering a question that really has no right answer. If people like his stuff that is their business. I like plenty of artists that other people don't like.

 

[batwister]

I don't know if you are saying this to attack me or defend Ansel. I will assume you are saying this to defend Ansel.

Why would you assume I was defending Ansel with that comment? I must be one of the few on APUG who doesn't go weak at the knees for him! I was teasing, not attacking.

 

[kanzlr]

The "object" of art here is the obsession - not the photographs themselves. The photographs are merely pointers - they gesture towards that object. Precisely why I don't pretend to "get" contemporary art and confine myself to the renaissance. Less bullshit to put up with!

haha, very true and just my way of looking at it.

I respect contemporary art, but I prefer Della Francesca to Nitsch and Mühl