The Opposite of Déjà Vu

The Opposite of Déjà Vu

The photo series The Opposite of Déjà Vu is a reinterpretation of the works by famous and highly successful international photographers such as Wolfgang Tillmans, Roy Arden, Andreas Gursky, Aglaia Konrad, Annika von Hausswolff and others. These are artists who use cutting-edge technology to give viewers a spectacular show. To achieve this, they usually use large formats with perfectly focused images and fine-tuned colors.

 

Jiří Černický – Andreas Gursky,  2021, reinterpretion, Tokyo 1990 godsavedadaism, 7 x 10 + 120 x 140 cm.

In this context, I have often wondered what it would look like if these photographers were more humble and their works became ordinary amateur photographs which ordinary people used to take in the analogue world, for example, on holidays, i.e., photographs representing ordinary life. Could the works by famous artists withstand such aesthetic degradation?

 

Jiří Černický – Andreas Gursky,  2021, reinterpretion, Tokyo 1990 godsavedadaism, 7 x 10 + 120 x 140 cm. detail.

I decided to make a test. I was inspired by vintage black and white photo cards from antique shops and archives of amateur photographers in my area. These were images up to about 1980. I then reduced the works by the photographic stars to a common popular format and removed the color from them. I proceeded to degrade the images in terms of light, either providing them with inadequate contrast or making them grey. I further degraded the works so that they seemed to have been taken with cheap cameras, and also made them look old. To do this I used deterioration techniques, mostly patination and sanding.

 

Jiří Černický – Wolfgang Tillmans, 2021, reinterpration, 8 x 11 + 60 x 80 cm.

I continued to work with these photographs, having them framed in such a way that the size of their frames corresponded to their original dimensions. This is why sometimes the small images seem to be literally drowned in the background.

 

Jiří Černický – Wolfgang Tillmans, 2021, reinterpration, 8 x 11 + 60 x 80 cm, detail.

 

Jiří Černický – Aglaia Konrad, 2020,  reinterpretion, 7 x1 0 + 90 x 110 cm

 

Jiří Černický – Aglaia Konrad, 2020,  reinterpretion, 7 x1 0 + 90 x 110 cm, detail.

 

Jiří Černický – – Annika von Hausswolff , 2020, reinterpretion,  8 x 10 + 37 x 50 cm.

 

Jiří Černický – – Annika von Hausswolff , 2020, reinterpretion,  8 x 10 + 37 x 50 cm. detail

 

Jiří Černický – Roy Arden, 2020, reinterpretation, 8 x 10 + 35 x 40 cm.

 

Jiří Černický – Roy Arden, 2020, reinterpretion, 8 x 10 + 35 x 40 cm, detail

 

Jiří Černický – Andreas Gursky,  2020, reinterpretation, Tokyo 1990 godsavedadaism, 7 x 10

 

Jiří Černický – Collectif_fact 2020, reinterpretion, 7 x 10.

 

Jiří Černický – Andreas Gursky,  2020, reinterpretace,

 

Jiří Černický – Wolfgang Tillmans, 2020, reinterpretace, Iguazu 2010.