Ten Seas

We Portray Everyday Things.

Naturally, we mostly care about the visual properties, design and quality of the object, that may not always be apparent. All the seemingly unrelated motives gradually meet in a visual dialogue which offers a deeper personal statement, enriched by its installation in the exhibition space. We mostly focus on the rhythm, lines, space, surface and universal shapes. We want to explore ephemeral substances of the photographic image and its dependency on time. We also use visual defects that are supposed to remind the viewer that images cannot be read superficially. 

Photography and other new media, as the latest ways to describe the world, are constantly evolving at the speed of light. Fine art in general seems to be a perfect tool to redefine the properties and qualities of what we consider reality and what attitude we have towards reality and ourselves. A proper visual translation of core values requires a much stronger focus on philosophy and human sciences than on the technologies alone. 

If photography is considered a record of information, what will happen when it is stripped off all the historic connotations, taken out of context and deprived of any period signs? Does this latent cut of the photographic image leave something that could be called clean photography? Can it make an impression on the viewer despite not carrying any specific information about its background, space and time? The actual creation process of the photography deprives it of its context and all that is left is just a firmly anchored mimesis – an echo of reality. Here and now, moved into a different timeline. 

The architectural space of the gallery is a direct opposite to the natural environment, an addition to it, an enrichment. Its borders can be set by mass – its walls create forms and forms can be divided into two image environments, the indoors and the outdoors. Man returns indoors everyday as he considers it his home. The gallery space can be considered a temporary home to the artist. He enters it for a short period of time and uses it to work on his visual ideas. 

A rare agreement on themes allowed for the creation of a new generation of artists with strong opinions. Their works share the same visual elements and inspiration sources. And the themes of time, experience and the artist-viewer-gallery relationship. They are mostly interested in finding new ways how to interpret artworks. The exhibition project presents four young contemporary artists, graduates of the Photography Studio at the Faculty of Art and Design, Jan Evangelista Purkyně University in Ústí nad Labem.