Jaromír Novotný
Jaromír Novotný přehodnocuje klasické možnosti transformace a izolace média malby od zobrazovacích praktik a je to stále nějak překvapivé. Obrazy tohoto autora vznikající v cyklických a rozvážně komponovaných partiturách na mne vždy působily jako by byly pouze dočasným řešením, nikoliv nedokončeným, zároveň mne fascinují silnou smyslovostí jako výrazně taktilní stopy nebo předměty na blízku (zvláště aktuální práce na papíře). Právě díky specifickým formátům, technice malby, puristicky abstraktnímu myšlení i jeho pozoruhodnému instalačnímu důmyslu mohu vnímat Novotného obrazy především fyzicky. To pokládám s ohledem na podoby současné české malby za jistý druh zjevení.
Tento autor se nezabývá jen symbolikou média malby jako spousta ostatních malířů, ale právě její zvláštní materiální povahou – samotnou podstatou malířských příprav, historií pracovní metody, principem náhody nebo kvalitou technologických nedostatků. Ale i tato oblast zůstává již dlouho přitažlivá pro mnoho jiných. Novotný si ale na rozdíl od ostatních naprosto vědomě a nezakrytě střeží poměrně přísná hodnotící měřítka, jak by obraz neměl vypadat. Jeho bedlivá supervize vylučuje vše, co by působilo jako nadbytečná, protože významotvorná nebo dekorativní, vizuální informace. Autor se raději spoléhá na opakované konstanty psychologického vnímání a minimum výrazu, jehož podobu určuje logika technologické a kompoziční dedukce. Ačkoliv se to tak na první pohled nejeví, Novotný velmi intenzivně a účinně zachází s barvou, respektive s jejím automatickým derivátem v podobě přijaté barevnosti černobílého fotomateriálu nebo použitím základních tiskových barev. Čistě malířský charakter mají jeho spektrální vzorníky světelných kreseb – fotogramů. Ty vznikají při stejnoměrném osvitu fotopapíru postupným, selektivním přetíráním vývojkou a někdy také skládáním fotografického papíru, tedy jeho praktickým přizpůsobováním rozměru poměrně malé fotografické misky.
Několik posledních výstav Jaromíra Novotného představuje výsledky jeho úvah, které mne osobně a v dobrém smyslu provokují stále více. Jednak tento autor zůstává naprosto lhostejný k možnostem jakéhokoliv zobrazování. Vše podstatné se prostě děje ve vakuu uzavřené plochy. A co je neméně důležité – záměrně přerušené spojení tu jde ruku v ruce s poměrně extrémní metodou práce. Jaromír Novotný dokáže naplnit výjimečný předpoklad, že malířské nebo fotografické řešení obrazu může být vnímáno jako naprosto sdělné a přitažlivé gesto i v případě, kdy se vše děje ve jménu touhy nic nezobrazit. Pro malíře nebo fotografa se zdá být příjemnou povinností vyjádřit tento zdánlivý paradox velmi podrobně, tedy se smyslem pro maximální detail.
Michal Pěchouček
- What to say... Well...00:00:12.329
- 00:00:12.329
- I like working with things that have their place and borders given.00:00:17.130
- 00:00:17.130
- This is a print process reduced ad absurdum to a roller and paint.00:00:36.557
- 00:00:36.557
- Nothing else remained there...00:00:44.529
- 00:00:44.529
- But to me, it has a lot to do with the print process.00:00:47.144
- 00:00:47.144
- At the moment I work with offset paint.00:00:51.827
- 00:00:51.827
- All of a sudden it's thick and oily,00:00:57.001
- 00:00:57.001
- it doesn't run, but I have to roll it00:01:03.843
- 00:01:03.843
- with the roller in a quite demanding physical captivation.00:01:08.017
- 00:01:08.017
- The process is really tiring, because I don't dilute the paint,00:01:15.699
- 00:01:15.699
- I leave it thick and until you roll00:01:20.855
- 00:01:20.855
- a continuous layer you get pretty exhausted.00:01:23.621
- 00:01:23.621
- It looks like a trace of another process, not the painting one.00:01:32.661
- 00:01:32.661
- When you roll it with a bad foam roller for 15 crowns00:01:39.916
- 00:01:39.916
- and it takes two hours, then I feel ad absurdum like00:01:51.298
- 00:01:51.298
- a weird, slowed printing machine which takes two hours to produce this.00:01:58.684
- 00:01:58.684
- If you want to see the way it was made00:02:06.440
- 00:02:06.440
- or see some traces of the process,00:02:09.672
- 00:02:09.672
- you have to use only little amount of the paint00:02:15.304
- 00:02:15.304
- so that it comes out step by step.00:02:19.808
- 00:02:19.808
- Of course it's possible to take a wet roller00:02:23.537
- 00:02:23.537
- and run it over, but it doesn't make it interesting then, I guess.00:02:27.921
- 00:02:27.921
- If I used a standard paint roller, there wouldn't be these stripes00:02:36.593
- 00:02:36.593
- and the echoes of the edge.00:02:42.089
- 00:02:42.089
- That's generally the reason why I do it.00:02:52.123
- 00:02:52.123
- Or generally for many people it's the reason for making art.00:02:58.052
- 00:02:58.052
- When it appears, you're surprised00:03:04.249
- 00:03:04.249
- and delighted something happened, something astonishing and a bit new,00:03:07.384
- 00:03:07.384
- well, the novelty should be taken with a pinch of salt.00:03:25.916
- 00:03:25.916
- There is a frottage, I use the panels,00:03:31.905
- 00:03:31.905
- it's connected here, by the rabbet,00:03:36.787
- 00:03:36.787
- the protrusion, and this is the outcome.00:03:43.484
- 00:03:43.484
- Although it has got an exact compositional solution,00:03:48.362
- 00:03:48.362
- the chance still plays a key role so it can't00:04:02.315
- 00:04:02.315
- be referred to an orthodox geometry.00:04:06.443
- 00:04:06.443
- Here on the stripe, the hair is repeated...00:04:13.467
- 00:04:13.467
- Well it's on canvas as a residue of traditional painting means.00:04:20.362
- 00:04:20.362
- But I don't mind it and I discovered it would be nice00:04:31.156
- 00:04:31.156
- to leave the canvas free and unstretched.00:04:36.484
- 00:04:36.484
- It looks a bit like a print, well it's a print but00:04:40.128
- 00:04:40.128
- it looks a bit like a xerox copy or something printed out by a machine.00:04:48.594
- 00:04:48.594
- And I feel it should be supported by not stretching it.00:04:53.896
- 00:04:53.896
- But I make use of paper as well.00:05:03.715
- 00:05:03.715
- I have some of them over there...00:05:08.091
- 00:05:08.091
- The paint started to come out owing to00:05:20.790
- 00:05:20.790
- some dirt or something appearing in the material.00:05:27.615
- 00:05:27.615
- For example the primed canvas isn't white,00:05:36.212
- 00:05:36.212
- the black pigments are various,00:05:40.108
- 00:05:40.108
- they are not identical and all this makes the colours different.00:05:43.846
- 00:05:43.846
- I started to work with a photographic paper,00:05:49.857
- 00:05:49.857
- which is black and white, but after certain00:05:53.729
- 00:05:53.729
- treatment it gives out colour...00:05:56.347
- 00:05:56.347
- I was interested in the way the colour had appeared.00:06:01.114
- 00:06:01.114
- The colour just appeared.00:06:05.764
- 00:06:05.764
- As I spoke before about the given facts,00:06:09.110
- 00:06:09.110
- here the colour is given, I don't have to come up with it00:06:13.547
- 00:06:13.547
- or decide on the colour I would use.00:06:16.502
- 00:06:16.502
- It's something emerging from the material, a kind of experiment.00:06:20.223
- 00:06:20.223
- But I really like it looks like a postcard a bit,00:06:25.367
- 00:06:25.367
- something finished you just grab. I was just testing it,00:06:31.339
- 00:06:31.339
- but at the same time it's a finished little thing.00:06:35.248
- 00:06:35.248
- Something comes off and something doesn't.00:06:41.751
- 00:06:41.751
- I can't find the good ones...00:06:45.935
- 00:06:45.935
- The colour of the photographic paper is violet - pink - brown or something,00:06:49.425
- 00:06:49.425
- so the paintings took these colours over00:06:56.728
- 00:06:56.728
- and it was the first noticeable change of the colour.00:07:01.937
- 00:07:01.937
- It recalled my printing past and it was evident,00:07:11.487
- 00:07:11.487
- that CMYK was the right option as the colour shades00:07:15.522
- 00:07:15.522
- are clearly given and ready for use.00:07:19.997
- 00:07:19.997
- Of course I suspected the magenta would be perceived00:07:30.687
- 00:07:30.687
- with the intentions of a civilizational banality.00:07:33.661
- 00:07:33.661
- The colour is quite crazy.00:07:45.642
- 00:07:45.642
- It might have been a personal therapy to bear00:07:48.173
- 00:07:48.173
- having two or three square metres of00:07:53.279
- 00:07:53.279
- this awful colour hanging in front of me.00:07:57.524
- 00:07:57.524
- This remained from my apprentice years,00:08:00.856
- 00:08:00.856
- this colour is from00:08:05.250
- 00:08:05.250
- 00:08:05.250
- It looks like this, when you remove the crust.00:08:18.977
- 00:08:18.977
- The offset paints grow pale, black is good, it sort of lasts.00:08:25.452
- 00:08:25.452
- Also the pigment is quite stable.00:08:31.716
- 00:08:31.716
- But the worst is yellow, then cyan, magenta, black, in this order...00:08:36.162
- 00:08:36.162
- I tried to replace the magenta by offset oil one,00:08:45.030
- 00:08:45.030
- because UMTON started to produce a limited edition of magenta...00:08:52.453
- 00:08:52.453
- Would you mind if it faded out?00:09:01.838
- 00:09:01.838
- Well, I don't know.00:09:05.353
- 00:09:05.353
- I guess it's quite nice that the process continues somehow.00:09:09.313
- 00:09:09.313
- When you work with such specific material00:09:16.862
- 00:09:16.862
- on which the emotion from the picture depends...00:09:27.256
- 00:09:27.256
- Now I'll digress a bit...00:09:36.252
- 00:09:36.252
- I guess when you know the way it was made,00:09:38.476
- 00:09:38.476
- that it's not an oil but printing ink,00:09:44.028
- 00:09:44.028
- the resulting perception is different then.00:09:47.388
- 00:09:47.388
- When I work aware of this, I should also accept00:09:52.588
- 00:09:52.588
- it's going to fade away as a process of continuation.00:09:55.448
- 00:09:55.448
- That's true. But on the other hand, when I focus00:10:00.572
- 00:10:00.572
- on the work fineness and gather all my energy00:10:06.723
- 00:10:06.723
- to achieve a perfect result,00:10:14.640
- 00:10:14.640
- then I'm not sure what role the fading plays.00:10:33.727
- 00:10:33.727
- If it gradually disappears...00:10:39.802
- 00:10:39.802
- I don't think it would change colour, but it fades away...00:10:42.967
- 00:10:42.967
- Well I haven't thought it over yet.00:10:48.509
- 00:10:48.509
- I made this oil and I think you can see it's not it...00:10:51.066
- 00:10:51.066
- So it's possible I will abandon the oil and stay with offset...00:11:00.980
- 00:11:00.980
- We speak about CMYK but so far I got just to the magenta,00:11:13.221
- 00:11:13.221
- because the cyan is so ugly that I'm not able00:11:19.088
- 00:11:19.088
- to take it even into my hands.00:11:25.385
- 00:11:25.385
- But the other paints put up resistance and that's it...00:11:31.222