Hey Kitty Cat, Can I Ask You Something?

Following an interview for Pizmo (no.13), Sam and Edgar moved their working relationship into the gallery as curator and artist respectively. Using scarce materials Sam created a small piece focusing on his work with a picture. Edgar is a graduate of the Inter-medial Studio of Petra Lysáček at the University of Ostrava is and is a member of the audiovisual Schwarzprior and of the Wolf Trap project. He was also the curator of GZ (Zavodnik Gallery).

Edgar’s photography is a sloppy documentation of his lifestyle in light of his membership in bands. The atmosphere in which Edgar operates is influenced by the dark visual style of EBM (ElectroBodyMusic), whereas the house parties captured in his pictures have a touch of a 1970s and 1980s atmosphere to them. The scene is set against a backdrop of period furniture not yet changed, thus secondarily providing a probe into the subculture of Ostrava households. At the same time, it is also a period when the above-mentioned EBM genre crystallized and postmodernism came into being.

The physical bulges of behinds, breasts and bald heads soften the impression of abandoned rooms, illuminate the darkness and humanize the rough situation which the sadomasochistic accessories induce. To the conformist visitor some of these images may seem perverse, but Edgar’s only purpose is to subconsciously ease the attitude to the constant labelling of otherness. Madonna portraits also belong to this theme, disturbing the series. The sculptures embody Christian Puritanism, which strongly affected the morale of Euro-American culture regarding sex, giving rise to ongoing hypocrisy. At the same time, the lifeless characters also represent an elusive mental purity, which—in the series—serve as a romantic-utopian vision promising a new story. He imbued the shop window mannequin and porcelain figurine ballerina with a similar tension. In contrast, he does not idealize real women’s beauty, nor create a hierarchy among them; he treats them as an integral part of the environment. From among known photographers his sensitivity and attitude to representing an environment are closest to that of Nan Goldin’s. In general, Edgar does not create clear and readable images; meaningful information can be obtained only from a larger number of juxtaposed images. He returns to some themes over and over: the soft acts of kindness of an old master and the windows separating domesticated ferocity from external civilization.

Although the concept of Edgar's photos is not completely thought out, he has the ability to subjectively and honestly characterize the situation in post-communist countries.