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at Presentation House Gallery Miroslav Tichy Exhibition 6y Hetya Paiükaar T / I C H Y , an e x h i b i t i o n o f p h o t o g r a p h s by recently / discovered C z e c h artist M i r o s l a v T i c h y is his first ( exhibition in a public gallery outside of Europe. Born in 1926, he studied at the Academy of A r t in Prague in the 1940s, and was an avant-garde painter. H i s primarv photographic subject has been w o m e n i n the streets of his sv m a.l l Fh om me tow n in M ora ia ro the 1960s t o t h e 1 9 8 0 s , he s h o t hundreds o f images d a i l y f r o m h a n d m a d e cameras inventively cobbled together f r o m scavenged m a t e r i a l s s u c h as o l d tins, toilet rolls, plastic d r a i n pipes a n d cigarette b o x e s , w i t h lenses c u t from Plexiglas ground with sandpapers and p o l i s h e d w i t h toothpaste Tichy speaks of ·painting with photography as light," as unique traces of time that creates poetry from chance mistakes. In an era of high-precision, digital technology, this exhibition offers new ways of thinking about the nature of photography, and ashes. H i s d a r k r o o m and printing equipment were also assembled from everyday materials. A social misfit and recluse, T i c h y ' s a p p r o a c h was d r i v e n by frugality as w e l l as a p h i l o s o p h i c a l r e f u s a l to m o v e f o r w a r d w i t h the ideology of progress d u r i n g the Czechoslovak Communist regime. F r o m such c l u m s y i n s t r u m e n t s emerge s u r p r i s i n g l y b e a u t i f u l , i m p r e s s i o n i s t i c images. T h e imperfections f r o m his i m p r o v i s e d equipment p r o d u c e soft, cloudy images w i t h clotted surfaces that appear as if taken in a d r e a m . T h i s poetic effect suggests the transience of p h y s i c a l beauty and the passage of t i m e . There is an intensified sensual quality to the spectral figures that are often barely visible because of light leakage and unusual perspectives. D i s r e g a r d i n g the rules o f c o n v e n t i o n a l photography, Tichy's snapshots are taken surreptitiously and q u i c k l y at odd angles. In these voyeuristic images, the women seem to be captured off guard in moments of repose or self-absorption. Tichy speaks of photography as " p a i n t i n g w i t h l i g h t , " as unique traces of time that creates poetry from chance mistakes. In an era of highprecision, digital technology, this exhibition offers new ways of thinking about the nature of photography. T h e e x h i b i t i o n i n c l u d e s a n e x t e n s i v e s e l e c t i o n of photographs, as well as one of Tichy's handmade cameras and ephemera. A documentary f i l m , "Miroslav Tichy: Tarzan Retired," will run continuously in the gallery. WHAT: Miroslav Tichy Exhibit WHEN: Nov. 17 2006 - Jan. 14, 2007. Gallery hrs, 12-5 Wed. - Sun., 12-9 T l w s . WHERE: Presentation House Gallery, 333 Chesterfield Avenue INFO: 604.986.1351 8 November|December