handmade matboard:
the disheveled appearance hiding a camera a camera so odd people did not believe he was taking photographs:
and the makeshift darkroom in which he took soot from the fireplace to paint his walls black.
Tichy was the anti-establishment, discovered far too recently in his career.
He repaired his clothing with wire and was kicked out of the local public swimming pool for photographing the patrons. Instead he chose to point his camera through the fence and catch their expressions when they did indeed realize his cardboard camera took a photograph. His eccentricities will be missed.
I just became aware of Miroslav Tichy today. Wow, what a strange life! And I am amazed at his energy and persistence. I was toying around the idea of constructing a camera by putting together some antique lenses... hence my searching the internet for "homemade camera"... leading to my discovery of this eccentric genius.
ReplyDeleteThank you Amitabha. Good luck with your homemade camera!
ReplyDeleteI'm lucky that I am free to pursue my artistic aspirations and give vent to such expressions.
ReplyDeleteI'm lucky that I don't have to make crude lenses out of plexiglass... & polish them with sandpaper, toothpaste and cigarette ash!! Although the idea is quite a challenging one and it could be fun :p
I'm lucky that I don't have to photograph my subjects stealthily. Yet I sometimes wish, I had some "inconspicuous" device for taking pictures unaware of the passers-by. Some moments are magical & they are lost forever.
May be Tichy had to endure so much pain that he developed some sort of defiant indifference for the society... misanthropy perhaps? He was "crazy", but he also had an astounding craze for his Art.