Mr Jourdain, the protagonist of Molière's The Bourgeois Gentleman, did not know that he had been speaking prose for decades - the protagonists of Voranc Vogel's photographs do not know that they are funny, comical and amusing, that funny things happen to them. And even if they are not in the photograph, they are still funny, in fact even funnier - because they are overshadowed and blown away by their objects, who are just as funny, comical, mischievous and amusing, because they imagine that they are alive and absolute, that they live their own lives and don't need a human being. If Voranc's photographs were films, then these objects would have got on the nerves of a Tati - or an Inspector Clouseau.
Not that the protagonists of these photographs - snapshots from the street - knew in advance what was going to happen. "That" only happened when they got the attribution. Only the attribution - witty, sarcastic, ironic - turned them into an event. A spectacle of everyday life. A demonstration of the inner potential and the inner theatricality of everyday life.
And all these characters, “connoisseurs” of leisure, casualness, idleness, play and the ecology of dead time, strangers who have the subquality of an unknown Facebook "friend" (or an unrequited Tinder lover), can be imagined in the same photograph, the same shot, the same story and the same film, whose final twist is: everyone knows each other!
If Voranc's photographs were a puzzle or a whodunit, the advertising slogan would be: Everyone is connected, but only one is a murderer! Since 1966 - since Antonioni's Blow-Up - the photographer officially no longer knows what exactly he has photographed. Who knows, maybe he has photographed a corpse without knowing it.
But all these contradictions of Voranc's ethnography of funny post-truth times - and the cartography of the digitised unconscious, if we are talking about it - are outlined by Barthes's dictum from the preface to Mythologies: "What I claim is to live to the full the contradiction of my time, which may well make sarcasm the condition of truth."
Marcel Štefančič, Jr.
Voranc Vogel's photographs are not only interesting because of their genre, humor and depictions, but also because of their extraordinary compositional appeal and choice for black and white technique. Vogel has a flair for playing with perspective. Especially in his street photos, he repeatedly breaks the rules of composition, creates new perspectives and challenges and entertains the viewer. With diagonals and lines, which are interrupted by the deliberate placement of individuals in the photo, as well as random elements in the photos, he creates a very special rhythm and directs our gaze. On the other hand, those more classic and harmonious photographs await us, which open vast landscapes before us.
On them, our gaze calms down, captures the aesthetics of the depicted and surrenders to it. His images speak in black and white technique. He does not decide on it because it would be easier to control, but he approaches it with reflection. With gray tones, he emphasizes the content elements of the photo and its emotional side. During the years of his creation, the photographer's view was more and more inclined towards the black and white technique, which adds a timeless dimension to the photograph and builds its message.
By deciding on the framing, composition and selection of the depicted Voranc Vogel presents us with photographs that are the expression of a great aesthete and humanist. They carry the photographer's interpretation of the world. Opting for vast landscapes, unnamed individuals and often overlooked details speaks of a photographer pursuing life. A life that returns to itself through contradictions and ironies, moments of tenderness, loneliness and laughter. Individuals who enter his photographs are given a soul, but a moment later they disappear again into namelessness. Outlines of history, cityscapes and landscapes, in which they are embedded as an inherent part of the depicted. His photos can thus be read without subtitles, because they speak above all about ourselves, as a document of time, and each time they lead us on a path of renewed research.
Nika Perne, curator
PRINT SIZES
ABOUT EDITIONS
The most reliable way for a work of art to gain value is the death of the artist. But it is not necessary.
LIMITED SERIES PHOTOS: All photographs are for sale in limited series of 9 or 12. Each photo therefore exists in a maximum of nine or twelve prints depending on the series, and is numbered and signed.
INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITY: Limited edition artworks are mostly purchased by more serious enthusiasts, connoisseurs and passionate art collectors. Regardless of the reason for the purchase, a work of art can also be a good investment.
TRANSPARENT VALUATION SYSTEM: Buying each photo in the series raises the selling price of the next photo in the series. The system benefits the author, as it stimulates buyers to buy his work as soon as possible and thus at a favorable price. It also provides buyers with a predictable increase in the value of the purchased artwork.
EXAMPLE: The price of a photo in series 9: the first photo in the series (1/9) is valued at 100 euros. When it is sold, the new price of the photo comes into effect (2/9), which is 20% higher and thus amounts to 120 euros.
Minimum price increase of photos in series:
