Jan Tichy: Installations at Richard Gray Gallery, Chicago

Richard Gray Gallery, Chicago

Richard
 Gray
 Gallery
 is
 pleased
 to
 announce
 an
 exhibition
 of
 recent
 work
 by
 Jan
 Tichy,
 presented
 in
 a
 temporary
 project
 space
 one
 floor
 below
 the
 Chicago
 gallery
 in
 the
 famed
 Skidmore,
 Owings
 &
 Merrill‐designed
 John
 Hancock
 Center.
 Jan
 Tichy:
 Installations
 consists
 of
 nine
 works
 made
 over
 the
 past
 three
 years 
and
 is 
the 
artist’s 
largest
 solo
 show
 to 
date.




Jan
 Tichy
 works
 at
 the
 intersection
 of
 video,
 sculpture,
 architecture,
 and
 photography;
 many
 of
 his
 works
 combine
 these
 elements.
 In
 Installation
 No.
 4
 (Towers),
 a
 nuanced

digital
 video
 is
 projected
 from
 overhead
 onto
 dual
 “towers”:
 two
 handmade
 paper
 sculptures
 standing
 three
 feet
 tall.
 The
 animated
 video
 projection
 seems
 to
 call
 the
 towers
 to
 action
 in
 different
 ways,
 at
 times
 implicating
 them
 in
 naturalistic landscapes.
 The architecture 
of 
the 
towers 
is 
familiar, 
though
 a 
precise 
referent 
goes 
purposely
 unnamed.



Also
 on
 view
 is
 a
 new
 work
 the
 artist
 filmed
 this
 summer
 of
 children
 at
 play
 on
 a
 school
 playground
 in
 Gary,
 Indiana.
 Recess
 is
 a
 ten‐minute
 single
 channel
 HD
 video
 projection,
 shot
 continuously
 from
 a
 single
 bird’s‐eye
 view.
 The
 volume
 of
 sub‐narratives
 contained
 within
 Recess
 forces
 the
 viewer
 to
 necessarily
 shift
 back
 and
 forth,
 and
 yet
 the
 overall
 composition
 of
 children
 swarming
 becomes
 abstract,
 belying
 the
 many
 vignettes
 of
 innocence,
 antagonism,
rough 
play 
and 
wild 
energy.


A
 highlight
 of
 the
 exhibition
 is
 a
 site‐specific
 video‐light
 installation
 the
 artist
 created
 while
 working
 in
 the
 exhibition
 space
 over
 the
 past
 three
 months.
 The
 work
 directly
 responds
 to
 the
 interior
 architecture
 of
 the
 building,
 employing
 part
 of
 the
 famous
 X‐shaped
 beam
 as
 a
 3D
 surface
 for
 projection.
 Among
 the
 other
 works
 included
 is
 RAW,
 a
 work
 in
 which
 raw
 photography
 files
 are
 translated
 for
 both
 their
 image
 and
 sound
 content,
 and
 then
 recombined
 as
 video,
 resulting
 in
 the
 sensation
 that 
you 
are 
hearing 
what 
you 
are 
seeing.


Born
 in
 Prague
 in
 1974,
 Jan
 Tichy
 moved
 to
 Israel
 in
 the
 mid
 1990s.
 After
 studying
 at
 Bezalel
 Academy
 of
 Art,
 in
 2007
 he
 moved 
to 
Chicago, 
where 
he 
earned
 an 
MFA 
from 
the 
School 
of 
the 
Art 
Institute 
earlier 
this 
year. 
He 
has 
had 
one‐person
 exhibitions at
 the Herzliya Museum
 of 
Contemporary 
Art 
and 
the 
Museum
 of 
Contemporary 
Art, 
Chicago, 
and, 
in 
the 
fall
 of
 2010,
 he
 will
 have
 a
 solo
 show
 at
 the
 Center
 for
 Contemporary
 Art
 in
 Tel
 Aviv.
 Over
 the
 past
 two
 years
 his
 work
 has
 been
 included
 in
 exhibitions
 at
 public
 institutions
 in
 Barcelona,
 Berlin,
 Frankfurt,
 Jerusalem,
 Paris,
 Prague,
 Stockholm,

 Tel 
Aviv, 
Venice, 
and 
Washington,
 D.C.