iVAN pINKAVA 

The Prague artist Ivan Pinkava made his mark during the last fifteen years by exhibiting his work at every opportunity. By the time he was thirty, he had published his first monograph. Even back then it was the case when models usually helped the artist to bring about an informal effect.

       The most important change from the earlier period of Pinkava’s work is evident in his further suppression of the link between the resulting photograph and the requirements of portrait photography. In portrait photography the message that determines the meaning consists in the more or less descriptive representation of a concrete being. Pinkava’s development has also been accompanied by a continuous, radical reduction in the number of props used. Stripping the figures of their material attributes seems to have compelled Pinkava to add the still life to his work.

       Pinkava does not experiment. His creed as an artist is spirituality, not experimentation. He has developed a particular liking for the aesthetics of Mannerism and the Baroque. Just as he is clearly in harmony with Christian inspiration, Pinkava, with the conception and titles of some of his photographs, also makes reference to things even further back in time. But the photographs are not furnished with literary codes, though their titles help us to recall the pictures in our subconscious. For the viewer, the photographs provide an opportunity to reflect upon the conflict between the hidden attraction of individual distinctions and the basis of everything we all have in common. The associations that are evoked aim towards Antiquity, towards the Classical. The ancient character of the archetypes becomes part of the present in the way the pictures have been made, but without relinquishing evocations even of primitivism.

       Ivan Pinkava is one of the fortunate artists. His works immediately become classics. One need not wait till they age, till time has given them a patina. The hallmark of timelessness is provided straight away by the artist himself. But one also recognizes the statement of a clearly contemporary authorship. The representation of archetypes, which are deposited in the foundations of the subconscious of civilization, is based on the photographic technique. The artist, however, is not calling for antiquarianism; instead, he works in the spirit of contemporary standards. The picture is thus linked with the urgency of the present. This is also because the form of the subject-matter remains palpably alive: the photo negative has literally absorbed the appearance of the model.

       The ambiguous mood of the photos is supported by the lighting and the perfectionism with which all the aesthetic and tonal values are turned into relatively large prints. This aesthetically refined path also induces us to collaborate in the profound search for the existential meaning of Pinkava’s pictures, and goads us to introspection. The seriousness with which the photographs are made wrenches us out of the ordinary way of looking at things and forces us to stop and really look. The artist demonstrates the basic, ineradicable features of the origin of humankind; not only the outer features, but also, and indeed primarily, the inner ones. He is concerned with a mysterious primal essence E, in other words, not only with spiritual sources, but also with inclinations towards the darker side. Evidently, to be able to work in this way Pinkava must have the talents of an occultist medium. Without them he would not have managed to make the beings in the photographs be so obviously physically relaxed, let alone achieve the depiction of that undoubtedly present, though intangible, aura of their conscious participation, which carries with it the hope of a positive result.

       The way Ivan Pinkava is able to bring his models’ states of mind into play with his own ideas is what I call mastery.

Josef Moucha (Translated by Derek Paton)

ivan pinkava  1961 born in Náchod, northeast Bohemia. Graduated from a secondary school specializing in graphic art, and took his post-secondary training at FAMU, Prague, in art photography.

individual Exhibitions 1992 Fotografien, Fotogalerie in der Brotfabrik, Berlin, Germany. Dynastie, Prague House of Fotography, Prague, Czechoslovakia. 1995 Hippolyte Gallery, Helsinky, Finland. Portréty, Galerie Pallas, Prague, Czech Republic. 1996 Memento Mori, Galerie Rudolfinum, Prague, Czech Republic (Co-operative project with Václav Jirásek and Robert Novák), later shown in Mexiko. Produzentengalerie Passau, Passau, Germany. Ecce Homo, Galeria Pusta, Katowice, Poland. Vrais Reves Galerie, Lyon, France (Co-operative project with Václav Jirásek and Vladimír Îidlick˘). Galerie G4, Cheb, Czech Republic. 1997-98 Portraits, Frederiks Bastion Gallery, Kobenhavn, Denmark. 1998 Centro de la Imagen, Mexico. 1999 Kain a Abel, Galerie JNJ, Prague, Czech Republic. Cain and Abel, Galerie Allan, Wien, Austria. Month of Photography, Bratislava, Slovakia. 2000 Kain und Abel, Tschechisches Zentrum, Berlin, Germany. Gallery Replica, Stockholm, Sweden. 2001 Adam a Eva, Fidicia Gallery, Ostrava, Czech Republic. Theatre of Lost Souls, Mesaros Galleries, Morgantown, West Virginia, USA 

group Exhibitions 1988 Vize, Moravská galerie, Brno, Czechoslovakia. "11", Galerie Fotochema, Prague, Czechoslovakia 1989 37 fotografÛ na Chmelnici, Chmelnice klub, Prague, Czechoslovakia. Contemporary Czech Photography, Nieuwe Kerk, Foto 89 Amsterdam, Holland 1990 Choice, Fotofest, Houston, USA. Tchechoslowakische Photographie der Gegenwart, Museum Ludwig, Köln, Germany. La Tchécoslovaquie a Arles, Palais de l’ArchevÍche, Arles, France. Vision de l’homme, Galerie Municipale du Ch‚teau d’Eau, Toulouse, France 1991 Plastic Photography, Rijksmuseum Twenthe, Foto Biennale Enschede, Holland. European Photography Award 1991, Berlin, Germany 1992 Photographes européens forts de leur Histoire, Salle des Fetes, Arles, France. Bratrstvo, Gabina, Ivan Pinkava, Fotogalerie Wien, Austria. 1993 Fotofeis, MacLaurin Art Gallery, Glasgow, Scotland, Great Britain. Later shown at EBRD London, Lisabon, Porto, Salamanca ad.. Presences, The Photographer’s Gallery, Bill Brandt Room, London, Great Britain 1994 V ostrem svetle, Prague House of Photography, Prague, Czech Republic 1995 Portrait II, Fotogalerie Wien, Wien, Austria. NOX, Museum Landau, Landau, Germany. 1996 Soudobá fotografie NOX 1996, National Gallery, Kinsky Palace, Prague, Czech Republic, Later shown in Brno. Facing the End of the Centure, Five Czech Photographers, Taitemia Gallery, Kuopio, Finland, Later shown in Tatlin, Panevezys, Siauliai, Pecs, Den Haag, Cottbus, Poprad. Certainty & Searching in Czech Photography of the 90’s, Prague Castle, Czech Republic, Later shown in Berlin, Bratislava, Chicago Cultural Center. The Body in Contemporary Czech Photography, Macintosh Gallery, Glasgow, School of Art, Scotland, Later shown in Braga, Portugal, London - Czech centre. 1998 Body and Photography, Salmovsky palac, Prague, Czech Republic. 1999 Czech Photography in the 20th Century, The Eli Lemberger Museum of  Photography at Tel-Hai Industrial Park, Israel. Czech Photography of the 1990’s, Chicago Cultural Center, Chicago, USA. Czech and Slovak Photography, Czech centrum, New York, USA. 2000 Gallery Replica, Stockholm, Sweden. The Nude in Czech Photography, Imperial Stables, Prague Castle, Czech Republic