Vitezslav Farny was born in Prostejov /Czech Republic/ on 29th October, 1953. While attending the Secondary School of Film Making in Cimelice, he began to work as an assistant of photography with Czechoslovak TV. Today he works as a cameraman for Czech TV.
Farny made his first painting in 1995. "I simply felt like doing it," is the answer to a question why he decided to grab a paintbrush after twenty years of working as a cameraman. "Behind your camera, in principle, you keep being forced or manipulated to do things. Space, actors, ideas - everything is more or less predetermined; on the other hand, when you are painting you stay alone, the only limits being your imagination. As a cameraman I just shoot images, now I try to create them." Farny presents himself as an optimist who derives satisfaction from trying to bring the beautiful not only into a painting as such, but via the painting into the outer space surrounding it. "I do not want to project sadness or disappointment into my paintings - feelings which I sometimes have about this world as anyone else. I know I would not hang another depression on a wall in my home," he says. He derives themes for his paintings from casual moments of his own life and transforms their passing value into something permanent. "I put my own memories into my paintings. I donīt portray concrete things, but moods and events. I would like to get insights into certain realities. That is to say, a painting has the power to arrest and preserve a momentary sensation, state of mind, which would otherwise be blown away from life, squeezed out by something else. I remember sitting on the edge of a meadow near a forest once in the morning. It was late spring, everything was still deep green, and the grass around was high, uncut. Suddenly a blow of wind swept over the grass and there was something like an explosion. A cloud of pollen and seeds flew up into the air, with numerous insects humming around, and I realised that I was standing amidst a monstrous copulation of trees, plants, bugs and who knows what else, and I felt an immense joy. A joy that the world is still functioning normally. Then, back in my studio, I tried to put it onto a canvas. Not the copulation, but the euphoria, the sensation I had felt for a moment. And thatīs what my paintings are about." Paradoxically, the only obvious symbol, which reappears in Farnyīs paintings, is the symbol of Death. It has no clear, concrete form, although its presence can be traced among other symbols. The author himself explains: "To me, Death is characterised by violet and green colours. Christian culture perceives violet as a symbol of humility and reverence, while green is a symbol of rebirth. In other words: we are afraid of death and therefore hope in being reborn into this world."
In contrast to motives, it does not take Farny long to find titles for his paintings. "Actually, a title comes first, it is derived from the theme. To be frank, however, I donīt like to give names to my pictures. As a matter of fact, paintings have an ability to communicate and address an individual in different ways approximating his or her own specific experience and vision. In fact, itīs the very moment the painting addresses its viewer that I consider so important. We can say in that moment that a painting is more than just a colourful composition. I have a personal relationship with my paintings and I hate to say good-bye to them. I perceive the emergence of a painting all the way to its final form as a dialog between the canvas and myself. It happens that I leave an already laid-out motif, and a entirely new picture develops in its place. In fact, one canvas conceals several plots, which only I know about. Farnyīs artwork evokes neither a feeling of split personality nor an explosion. Its emotional capacity is contained rather in details and individual transitions from one mood to another. The playfulness, which the author uses to experiment with different meanings of individual colours, is the determining factor in the atmosphere of his paintings. "I cannot paint when I am too happy or too sad. I must be balanced. I paint mainly for myself, for my own pleasure, and it makes me happy whenever someone else shares similar feelings while looking at my pictures.
Prepared by Sedlacek Robert
