Antonín Kratochvíl "FACES"

About

When Kratochvíl photographed Bowie, the two men had much in common - both in their fifties, both leaders in their fields, both deeply creative people. Perhaps because of this closeness, Kratochvil managed to gain Bowie's trust and lure him out of the confined conditions of a studio shoot, organized by his assistants and managers, and onto the streets of New York's Meatpacking District. Here, in the narrow streets between former meatpacking factories, both men became restless - Bowie because of the absence of his uptight staff, Kratochvil because the cat heads in the Meatpacking District reminded him of the cat heads of the streets of Karlín, where he grew up. From their six-hour sit-down came the earnest and smiling portraits of Bowie that you can see in all their glory in this exhibition. 

Curator Edmund Čučka considers the exhibition a personal dream come true. "Antonín Kratochvíl is my personal hero," says Čučka. "I had the opportunity to meet his photographs during the communist era, when I got my hands on a foreign magazine in which he had a report."

The images represent a limited edition of works enlarged on barite papers, set in the exhibition concept by Michal Froňek from Olgoj Chorchoj studio.