6.7.-4.9.2011

Rudo Prekop is in the history of slovak photography known for his stage photography, to which he has been dedicated since the beginning of his career (80´s). He is a representant of so-called Slovak new wave representants, which has   fundamentally displaced a strong tradition of czechoslovak documentary photography and in the spirit of postmodernism indulged in stage fictional worlds full of myths, games and cryptic messages. Stage photography is in the works of Rudo Prekop continuously present, however, not manz know, that the counterpart of constructed scenes is his less striking work of photographs, made directly and immediately. The series „The real things“ has the author been dedicated for more then 20 years. This double-line of his work has paradoxically its opposites but also similarities. Stage photography and photography realized straight and immediatelly, are with the way of its realization standing on opposite riversides. On the other hand, author´s inclination to a long concentrated work on stage has a simmilar mental outcomes as his „slow and quiet“ view over the land. Another bridge between the two banks is his everlasting interest in objects found in the reality of the day, „poor“ objects and materials, with which he works either actively or pasively, so that he does not interfere into the enviroment of their existence. 

The cycle The Real Things is a set of images, which originate, according to the words of author „ in the teritory somewhere between Prague and Kosice“, since 1989 until now. The photographs are freely set up according to their visual relations, or according to the type of the country, which is offten peripheral, non-attractive, lonely. For Prekop´s Real Things is typical so.called „inconspicuous situation“ built on banality, trifle, ordinariness. The things that most of us will not see, or simply will not realize is the centre of author´s interest.  In such concieved aproach we can ofcourse find outcomes in surrealizm, but from mine point of view the conotations of individual images on land-art, minimalizm, concept are stronger. The Atmospheric change of the land or a slight change of a captured enviroment, shown on two captures of the same is another possible approach of the author. Already mentioned inconspicuous situation is that way applicable not only in the case of atmospheric changes of the land, but also in finding the still lifes, which the author freely drafts and calles “gray scene”. These authentic and by the author found still lifes of ordinary objects, offten waste building material induce an atmosphere of small sculptural objects. This is an exposure, which we could describe by “all or nothing”, which is one of the present possible tendencies in photography.

Bohunka Koklesová

Rudo Prekop (1959, Košice) is a photographer, working in Czech republic and Slovakia. He graduated from Film and TV School of Academy of Performing Arts in Prague (FAMU) in 1986, where he studied photography at prof. Ján Šmoka. Since 2002 is Prekop the head of a studio atelier at FAMU. He works in independent photographic work and curatorial activity. His photographes were presented at exhibitions at home and abroad.