Introduction of the latest series of “Interference Pictures” made in 2016
In this series, the surface and the plasticity of the picture is a subject introducing us into an unusual situation, like in case of blind people. These two aspects of the picture have a meaning of a statue, and we seize them in our thoughts like something specific which directs us in its content. In this way, my pictures act towards the viewers also within the intentions of a third plan. The plasticity in them is an important hint between the two and the extra plans, indicating which of the colors represents the background, and which forms the top layer. Moreover, the technical conception of this series opens new dimensions in which the picture remains the subject also after changing the angle or the distance of view, offering thus more impressive effects. This can be observed for instance on the color contrasts merging in other colors when the picture is seen from a larger distance, or on the contrary, when uncovering the real difference of the colors on a closer look. Also when observing the picture from the side, we can perceive, due to the plasticity, the predominance of the color of the top layer and the decrease in the color of the background, or feel the metamorphoses as a result of the changes of the lightning and its angle, to which the picture surface responds with further changes formed by a shade emerging or draining away in the relief of the surface.
In this dynamic connection with the viewer, one may see well beyond the surface to the depths of an imaginary abstract “garden”, including sometimes an almost hypnotic experience of the interferences, forming the less specific of the traces in my pictures which are already moving in the viewer´s illusion outside the two dimensions enclosing the picture. These traces have been carefully shaped and they are the main, although the less visible motif of the series at first sight, and it could be said they don´t fully exist until the senses of the viewer start penetrating the picture and those traces are evoked in their mind. Here they emerge and vanish based on the viewer´s imagination and in different relations than in case of a real trace or color gradation. In this series, this is the continuation of my craving to redefine the effect as a tool used to push the boundaries of the possibilities of aesthetic expression, offering to the viewers a dynamic experience instead of another associated form of the medium, with the exception of the picture itself and its context which is being formed together with the viewer on the basis of their experiences and abilities. Therefore I offer to the viewers to complete this meaning at their own will, since I consider the meaning to be a permanent part of the artwork, and I am happy to give them the possibility to actually finish the piece of art and create a personal conception of it. Paradoxically, I do this based on invention and after having thought over the aim of the picture, in which I strive to enhance the influence between the picture, the circumstances, and the viewer.
M. J. Neugarten, Prague 2016