Center for Contemporary Arts Prague
www.fcca.cz 2006–2024
Václav Jirásek is originally a trained painter (he graduated from Prague’s School of Art – AVU); however, at the end of the 1980s he taught himself photography and began to focus on that discipline. References to painting can be found in his works in the form of certain (exaggerated) classicising, often taken to the extreme of slight bizarreness. In 1989 he acted as a founding member of the Brotherhood (Bratrstvo) group, which operated until 1993. This group anonymously created classically-formatted, black-and-white photography. They were characterised by their perfect handling of technique and inspiration from the history of art; specifically the pre-Raphaelites. That group inspired them through its archaic and religious ecclesiastical (holy) approach. Historicising themes, of course, give an ironic tone and transport the works to a new level. Another important topic for Václav Jirásek’s works is photography of industrial space. He first documented the former machine manufacturing and steelworks, Vaňkovka (Vaňkovka – parting with the industrial age / Vaňkovka – rozloučení s průmyslovým věkem, 1994-96). This collection of black-and-white photographs (published in book form) is not a classic document, but rather it focuses on the light and atmosphere of space, which holds a certain melancholy and spirituality. Several years later a series called Industria (2006) followed. It documented the remains of the industrial era (he photographed for example the factory spaces of ČKD Blansko, Poldi Kladno, Vitkovice and Třinecké železárny and the one-time NHKG – Nové hutí Klementa Gottwalda). The large-format, this time colour, prints include the factories‘ interiors featuring various nooks and details, alongside life-size portraits of workers. A certain timelessness (created by use of perfectly implemented photographic processes) once again shows references to classical painting. They also reference classic film from industrial environments. Besides these series he has photographed for example horizontal landscapes, constructed in part with the help of multiple process exhibits, black-and-white landscape-based nature photos, still-lifes and series with marked tales to tell. Together with Ivan Pinkava and Robert V. Novák he also created the series Memento Mori (1995), which documents a village ossuary.
Studies:
1985-1990 Academy of Fine Arts, Prague, painting studio of Jiří Načeradský
1980-1984 Secondary School of Applied Arts, Brno (applied graphics)
Petr Nedoma, Industria (kat.), Praha: Kant, 2006
Ladislav Plch, Vaňkovka - rozloučení s průmyslovým věkem (katalog výstavy, Moravská galerie v Brně), Brno 1994
Milena Slavická, Bratrstvo, Fotograf, č. 2, 2003
Helena Rišlinková, Lucia Lendelová, Tomáš Pospěch, Bratrstvo (katalog výstavy Česká a slovenská fotografie osmdesátých a devadesátých let 20. století, Muzeum umění Olomouc), Olomouc 2002
Bohdan Chlíbec, Mojmír Horyna, Memento mori, foto V. Jirásek, R. Novák, I. Pinkava, Praha 1998
Jiří Zemánek, Ejhle světlo, Praha 2003
Vladimír Birgus - Jan Mlčoch, Akt v české fotografii, Praha 2001
Josef Moucha, Piktoriální efekt podle Václava Jiráska, Ateliér 14, 2001, č. 23, s. 7
Josef Moucha, Cum grano salis, Ateliér 12, 1999, č. 4, s. 7
Vladimír Birgus - Pavel Scheufler, Fotografie v českých zemích 1893-1999, Praha 1999
Vladimír Birgus - Miroslav Vojtěchovský, Česká fotografie 90. let, Praha 1999
Vladimír Birgus - Miroslav Vojtěchovský, Bratrstvo, Tschechoslowakische Fotografie der Gegenwart, Museum Ludwig, Köln/Braus, Heidelberg 1990
Josef Moucha, Václav Jirásek, Imago, 1997, č. 4, s. 36
P. Peppenstein, Bratrstvo, Výtvarné umění, 1991, č. 5, s. 23
Petr Balajka, Bratrstvo, Ččskoslovenská fotografie 41, 1990, č. 6, s. 267