tomas_tichy_painter

Babel (small version)
40x50, oil and acrylic on canvas 2025

SPOT Gallery, Prague

curator: Martina Mrázová

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Realistically painted butterflies and other representatives of the natural world (birds, bumblebees, bees), which appear in his work for the very first time, add another layer of reality to Tichý’s paintings.

These fragile and ephemeral symbols of life, which the artist perceives as representatives of humanity, find themselves placed in the harsh, artificial environment of the digital world. Attracted by light, they settle on the mentioned objects as if they were real living plants that could provide them with food and shelter.

The artist sometimes subjects his illusory paintings of butterflies to further destructive interventions, which shift them to the level of digital noise or fleeting memories. Tichý thus originally connects the environmental theme with the classic artistic genres of vanitas and memento mori, which remind us of the transience and fragility of life. Instead of the traditional symbols of skulls, hourglasses or wilting flowers, however, he approaches the theme through the clash between the digital and natural worlds, which are increasingly subject to the destructive influences of human activity.
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Shadow 🌲
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70x52, oil and acrylic on canvas, 2024
foto: Ondřej Polák
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