CGD

The significance of Václav Jirásek' work is, among other things, proved by the fact that his name keeps reappearing in almost every yearbook of the Czech Grand Design awards. In 2016, he was nominated for the series of B/W photographs which, along with the graphic design (Studio Najbrt), resulted in the utmost distinctive and peculiar campaign of the 51st Karlovy Vary International Film Festival. It was staged snapshots of figures either directly linked with the festival or, for example, known from the artistic scene, shot in a style evoking the works by 1960s' or 1970s' paparazzi photographers. The concept was based on the previous year when Jirásek used photos taken in his provisional photographic studio at the festival, where he portrayed its employees, celebrities and visitors (and was also nominated for the latter cycle in the previous year).

The documentary method of the author, however, has much deeper roots: for instance, it is more than a decade since Jirásek began with his cycle of devils, deaths and Nicolases from the St Nicolas parades in the Walachian region. But his hitherto oeuvre also encompasses portraits, landscape sceneries and photographs of the bygone beauty of various industrial complexes. Jirásek moreover quite naturally moves in the sphere of advertising and product photography – for example, his photos for the catalogue of the furniture manufacturer, TON, in which he surprisingly situated the products in landscapes, earned him a nomination for the Czech Grand Design Photographer of the Year 2014.

Monika Čejková