JÁN ŠIPÖCZ / FILIP VANČO
In 1990s Filip Vančo photos were predominantly black and white, with a simple motif and a strong utterance. His attention to detail and natural accenting within the framework of the shot was obvious as well, something he prefers even today. It can be considered as a characteristic of his photographic signature. By emphasizing a certain moment, a detail within the framework of the recorded situation, Vančo achieves the specificity of his photography: the capturing of the essence, the feeling, the knowing. Formally speaking, Vančo prefers pure and direct photography without digital manipulations. Visually, he seeks out new methods and avoids repeating his own solutions.
The exhibited series of photos from the cycle Symballs (2006 – 2008) are color photos of a smaller format, which without a doubt prove Vančos special affinity for reflecting moments which are noteworthy for him although probably banal through the eyes of outside observers. However that banal look, emphasized in detail, eventually carries a strong narrative charge within and an atmosphere which opens space for imagination of every kind. Vančos work is special due to its lightness, the way that he – without additional interference and despite that with a great deal of visual attractiveness – captures “non-basic” moments of surrounding reality.
Jan Šipöcz is presenting a selection from the series Mesto ako atelier (The City as Studio) where he reflects on moments from city exteriors and interiors referring to the city as an organism that lives “its own life”. Again he assumes the role of a sensitive observer of the life of this organism and records the moments that are inspiring and significant for him which in his understanding illustrate and intermediate “life of things” in the urban environment. He looks for banal life situations and moments within the framework of which he enjoys finding the uncommon on the common and then records it spontaneously. According to Šipöcz, the personal themes that he chooses also have sufficient utterance value for the spectator to whom they offer space for identifying with it.
Pictures from another series, Traumy z detstva (Childhood Traumas) and Cesty domov (Roads Home) (2008 and 2007/2008) reflect the internal feelings and personal experience of the artist. In the first case from his childhood, from which he extracts moments that create feelings of anxiety or literally trauma, and in the second series his experience from returning home at night. In both cases they are subjective documents, in which he records reality through the prism of subjective perception and emotions.
