Pavel Baňka

If we tried to imagine Pavel Baňka’s creative life as a photograph, its inherently transient nature would probably show very soon. There would be a steady stream of portraits, staged figurative actions, spaces artificially created by the artist himself, images verging on the abstract, as well as landscapes and interiors with a spiritual dimension.













If we tried to imagine Pavel Baňka’s creative life as a photograph, its inherently transient nature would probably show very soon. There would be a steady stream of portraits, staged figurative actions, spaces artificially created by the artist himself, images verging on the abstract, as well as landscapes and interiors with a spiritual dimension. Such an imaginary picture would then suggest a host of frameworks within which Baňka’s work might be arranged, based on various inner and external criteria – just as the motif of the frame itself keeps recurring throughout Baňka’s work. A biographical angle would show that ever since his beginnings as a self-taught photographer, Baňka has retained his determination to search and invent, thus keeping at bay any danger of artistic stagnation, while always putting new approaches to the test.
Within the framework of Czech photography, Baňka’s place would be somewhere behind the founding father figure of Jan Sudek, whom he also references in his early works, and alongside Jan Svoboda, with whom he also shares an interest in the work of renowned Czech glass and jewellery artists. In Baňka’s nudes and some of the portraits, we can also find traces of another giant of Czech photography, František Drtikol. Like Drtikol, Baňka’s main objective is not creating a mere image of the subject, but rather constructing a photographic picture, where the photographed figure acts only as a fully integrated, yet provocative, part of the whole. In Baňka’s photographs, a piece of jewellery does not function as a mere decoration of the model but rather as an extension of their body and an expression of their mood. With each small prop, the spatial dimensions and inner meaning of the portrait shift.
This book focuses mainly on Baňka’s early work and is divided into three areas entitled Construction, Figuration, and Abstraction. The title Construction refers to the way an image is constructed by light. Baňka photographs panels of mirrors placed in a landscape, he opens windows, thus reflecting and focusing the view into the interior. The mechanisms of light shining through or being reflected, as captured in Baňka’s photographs, refine both the vision and the awareness of space. In his kinetic, phased figurative pictures (Figuration), Baňka’s wife, his daughter, or he himself then become the protagonists of a few second-long photographic actions: a simple movement creates a sequence, interconnecting personal and general levels. Other photographs play out almost on the surface so to speak. The term Abstraction is not used to suggest the notion that images lose their descriptiveness – rather, they shed the shackles of exact contours, becoming blurry and gaining evocativeness. In his experiments with exposure length, the immediate moment of a picture being taken is enriched by the time frame of the past as well as of the possible, just as Baňka himself seems to suggest when he speaks of “recollections” and “imaginations”.
/by Vojtěch Marc, for Pavel Baňka “Reflection”, book published by Schilt Publishing & Gallery, Amsterdam, 2016/
Solo Exhibition in Czech Republic
2011 • Not just Marginals, Dům umění města Brna, Brno (catalogue included)
2011 • On Photography, Špálova galerie v Praze, Prague
2010 • From My Life, together with Sivia Milková, Galerie 5. patro, Prague
2008 • Photographs from the Collection of PPF Art, Galerie Louvre, Prague
2007 • Brightened Night, Galerie Feducia, Ostrava
2007 • Pavel Baňka, Jindra Viková: In the Landscape, Český Krumlov, Castle Máselnice
2003 • Infinity, Galerie města Bratislava, Month of Photography, Bratislava, Slovakia
2003 • Terezin /Mansfield, Národní galerie, Veletržní palác, Prague
2001 • Infinity, Galerie Rudolfinum, Prague (catalogue included)
1999 • All and Nothing, Pražský hrad, Purkrabství, Prague
1998 • Galerie umění, Karlovy Vary
1995 • Dům umění města Brna, Brno
1995 • Pražský dům fotografie, Prague
1992 • Malá galerie ČS spořitelny, Kladno
1991 • Galerie čs. Spisovatele, Prague
1991 • Galerie G4, Cheb
1988 • Galerie Fotochema, Prague
1980 • Galerie Centrum, Prague
1979 • Galerie ve veži, Mělník
Solo Exhibitions Abroad
2011 • Spiritual spaces, SouthEast Museum of Photography, Daytona, Fl. USA (catalogue included)
2009 • Fotografie, Galerie Lenka T, Art Karlsruhe, Germany
2006 • Infinity, České centrum, Paris, France
2006 • Agraria et Marginalia, České centrum, Paris, France
2005 • Infinity, Terezin-Mansfield, Museum fotografie, Charleroi, Belgium
2005 • Terezín-Mansfield, Derby, art fair Format 05
2003 • Infinity, Galerie města Bratislava, Slovakia
2003 • Klotz/Sirmon Gallery, New York, USA
2003 • Hospice Comtesse, Transphotographies Festival, Lille, France
2003 • Gallery Witteveen, Amsterodam, The Netherlands
2002 • Biennal of Photography, Moskva, Russia
2002 • Art Museum, Rogensburg, Germany
2002 • Espoo Art Museum, Helsinky, Finnland
2001 • Klotz/Sirmon Gallery, New York, USA
2001 • Out of Time, Alutechna Factory, Benátky, Italy
2001 • Paris Photo, Carrousel Louvre, Paříž, France
2000 • Stephen Cohen Gallery, LA, USA
2000 • FOTOFEST HOUSTON, New Gallery, TX, USA
1999 • Benham Gallery, Seattle, USA
1999 • S.K. Josefsberg Studio Gallery, Portland, USA
1999 • Fotoforum Frankfurt, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
1997 • S.K.Josefsberg Studio, Portland, USA
1996 • Gallery Groll, Naarden, The Netherlands
1996 • Galerie Avantgarda, Wroclaw, Poland
1993 • Works Gallery, Philadelphia, USA
1993 • Gallery for Fine Photography, New Orleans, USA
1993 • Linda Walcott-Moore Gallery, San Francisco, USA
1992 • Lajos Keresztes Gallery, Norimberg, Germany
1991 • Jacques Baruch Gallery, Chicago, USA
1990 • Fotografisk Gallery, Kodaň, Denmark
1990 • Galerie 410, Lowell, Massachusetts, USA
1989 • Čs. kulturní středisko, Havana, Kuba
1989 • Čs. kulturní středisko, Budapešť, Hungary
1988 • Hyppolite Gallery, Helsinky, Finnland
1987 • Alvar Aalto Muzeum, Jyvaskyla, Finnland
1985 • Middlesex County State College, Edison, New Jersey, USA
Group Exhibitions in Czech Republic (Selection)
2008 • Czech Photography of the 20th Century, Městská knihovna, Prague (catalogue included)
2004 • 2 + 18, Galerie pošta, Museum v Ústí nad Labem, together with Michaela Thelenová and a selection of 18 students of FUUD J. E. Purkyně’s University, Ústí nad Labem
2003 • 2 + 19, Muzeum Liberec, kolektivní 2 pedagogues and 19 students
2000 • Nude in Czech Photography 1960–2000, Císařská jízdárna, Pražský hrad, Prague
1996 • Security and Searching in Czech Photography of the 90s, Nejvyšší purkrabství Pražského hradu, Prague
1988 • Journeys of Czech Photography, Národní galerie, Valdštejnská jízdárna, Prague
1984 • 70s’ Generation, Galerie Fotochema, Prague
1982 • Contemporary Photography, Moravská galerie, Brno
1980 • Interior Photography, Galerie Centrum, Prague
Group Exhibitions abroad (Selection)
2010 • Ostrale, Dresden, Germany
2010 • Czech Photography of the 20th Century, Bonn, Germany
1999 • Czech Potography of the 90s, Chicago Cultural Center, USA
1994 • Nudes, Spiral Hall, Tokyo, Japan
1994 • Contemporary Czech and Slovak Photohraphy, Photography Gallery of Western Australia, Perth, Australia
1992 • What’s New: Prague, Art Institute of Chicago, USA
1991 • Plastic Photography – Czechoslovak and Dutch Photography, Foto Biennale Enschede, The Netherlands
1991 • Fancy Road (5 Czechoslovak Photographers), Parco Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
1990 • Contemporary Czechoslovak Photography, Museum Ludwig, Cologne, Germany
1990 • Looking East, Lappenhallen, Arhaus Festival, Denmark
1990 • Quick Pictures, Contemporary Photography in Conversation, Kunstlerhaus, Vienna, Austria
1990 • Selection 19 – Perspectives-Real and Imaginary, Fotofest Houston, USA
1990 • A Reflexion of Events (Four Czechoslovak Photographers), Robert B. Menschell Gallery, Syracuse, USA
1988 • Contemporary Czechslovak Photography, Plovdiv Foto Festival, Bulgaria
1986 • Fifty Years of Colour Photography, Photokina, Cologne, Germany
1986 • Selection III by Polaroid Co., Cologne, Germany
1985 • Origin and Presence of Czech Photography, Fotografie Forum International, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
1984 • Selection II. by Polaroid Co., Photokina, Cologne, Germany
Competitions and Symposia
photography fair FOTOFEST Houston, USA
Biennale of Photography, Moscow, Russia
Paris Photo, Paris, France
Photography Month, Bratislava, Slovakia
Awards
1993 • Marylands Arts Council Grant, Visiting Artist, Baltimore, USA
1990 • Fulbright Grant – lecturing at numerous American universities
1987 • Residential Grant, Light Work, Syracuse N.Y., USA
Collections
Moravská Galerie, Brno, Czech Republic
Severočeské oblastní muzeum, Liberec, Czech epublic
Museum fotografie, Charleroi, Belgium
Saint Louis Museum of Fine Arts, Minneapolis, USA
Art Institute of Chicago, USA
George Eastman House, Rochester, N.Y., USA
Museum Ludwig, Cologne, Germany
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas, USA
The Buhl Collection, USA
Paris Audio Visual, Paris, Francie
Parco Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
Baruch Collection, Chicago, USA
Gallery for Fine Photography, New Orleans, USA
ICP Collection, New York, USA
Gersheim Collection, Austin, Texas, USA
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, USA
Musée de l’Elysée, Lausanne, Switzerland
Everson Museum, Syracuse, N.Y., USA
Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris, France
Polaroid Collection, Offenbach, Germany
Authorial Workshops
1999 • Letní workshop Pražského domu fotografie v Popradě, Slovakia
1999 • Workshop ad the Fotoforum Frankfurt, Germany
1992–1995 • summer workshop at the Prague Photography House, Prague
1994 • Elam School of Art, Auckland, New Zealand
1990 • Institute of San Francisco, USA
1990 • University of Lowell, Massachusetts, USA
1988 • Plovdiv Festival, Bulgaria
1985 • Edison, New Jersey, USA
Teaching Experience
2005–2009 • Visiting Professor for European Photography, University of Derby, Derby, GB
2002 • Visiting Artist a pedagog, University of Connecticut, Stors, Connecticut, USA
1999 • Visiting Artist a pedagog, Oregon College of Art and Crafts, Portland, USA
1992–1993 • Visiting Artist a pedagog, Ohio University, Athens, Ohio, USA
1991 • Visiting Artist a pedagog, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA