Luboš Plný: Re-construction no. 12/40

Re-construkce

The first series of stitching photos came to be almost by accident. I needed to test my limits and find out how far I was able to push my boundaries of endurance and how well I could withstand pain. At the time it was more of a personal initiation ritual rather than an art project. On the grounds of the Česká Lípa museum in 2003, with the help of two of my friends, were created multiple analog photos documenting this personally important excursion to the limits of my physical and mental abi- lities. The photos illustrating this event ended up sitting in a drawer for 13 years serving only as a memento. In 2016 I decided to revisit the project, only without the stitching, to capture the passing of the time which was allotted to me. This time the pictures were taken digitally and printed in colour without any retouching.

It occurred to me then that I could interconnect these two projects – analog photos with digital ones. However, this blending between projects and technologies was to be done in my own artistic style – making a bridge through collage and assemblage between the old Plný and the one who lived 13 years later. The main theme was to be the same as it is in most of my other works – anatomy, physiognomy and most importantly of all, the decay of the human body. Ever since then I have finally star- ted to accept both series of photos as art sui generis where each and every photo has its own value in showing the progression and finiteness of human life.

Luboš Plný