Miroslav Tichý
Miroslav Tichý is an Outsider photographer, born in 1926, and unknown to the art world until relatively recently. Tichý lived in the small town of Kyjov, Checkoslovakia, and after a period in Communist prison camps, lived a life on the margins of society, taking photos of women illicitly through his handmade cameras. Only one print was ever made from each carefully chosen negative.
Tichý wore rags and would make his own cameras out of junk found on the street - lenses from old glasses, tin cans, sewing spools, and old cardboard rolls from packaging. His prints were made at home from equally primitive equipment.
His works are so great because they are sincere and completely without irony - the whole story is there within each picture. From the rough edges of the paper, blurry focal control, and unsuspecting pose of the models - the direct opposite of shooting several hundred frames with a digital SLR, each of Tichý’s images positively steam with care and desire.
As Sarah Wichlacz writes, “this is what makes his work so damn appealing; it is not over thought and overwrought imagery made to please an academic gallery audience. Tichý’s techniques are interesting and unique; the subjects timeless and erotic.” Tichý knew what he was doing, however. As he himself said, “the errors are part of it, they give it poetry and turn it into painting. And for that you need as bad a camera as possible! If you want to be famous, you have to do whatever you’re doing worse than anyone else in the whole world.”
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