An exhibition of paintings containing human ashes by controversial Czech artist Roman Tyc has raised eyebrows after opening last Tuesday in a gallery in Prague’s historic city center.
“When you’re six and your mum dies, you see her as a metal urn and know her only from photographs for the rest of your life, you believe there’s a way to free her from the can,” reads an introduction to the exhibition, written by Tyc.
“It’s Tyc’s personal testimony. His mum died when he was six, and he’s trying to cope with her death,” Edmund Cucka, director at the Dvorak Sec Contemporary art gallery, told AFP at the opening of the exhibition, dubbed “Grave Robber.”
Photos: AFP照片：法新社
The 37-year-old Tyc created 19 portraits, using the gray ashes to create silhouette faces contrasting against a black background.
“The portraits are clean, there’s nothing shocking,” said Cucka, adding human ashes had been used as material by artists on Czech soil in the 1960s.
Cucka said the portraits “are not specific people like actors or something. They are people he chose — he was interested in their stories.”
Photos: AFP照片：法新社
The artist, who claims that excess ashes from funeral homes end up in waste dumps, was not present at the opening of the exhibition.
The gallery said the paintings were not for sale, and that it had asked the artist to scatter the ashes in a dignified place with all due piety after the exhibition.
Tyc is a member of the Ztohoven group of controversial artists who gained fame in 2007 after pirating a public television broadcast and superimposing images of a nuclear explosion on footage of a beauty spot. (AFP)
Photos: AFP照片：法新社
一場由作風爭議的捷克藝術家羅曼‧季茨以人類骨灰作畫的展覽，在上週二於布拉格的歷史都心亮相後，引人側目。
季茨在該展覽簡介上寫道：「當母親在你六歲就過世，你只能將一座金屬骨灰甕當作是她的化身，並且在往後的日子，都只能從照片中回憶她的長相，但你始終相信有個將她自骨灰甕裡釋放的方法。」
德佛札克賽奇現代藝術畫廊館長艾德蒙‧瞿曲卡在這場稱為「盜墓賊」展覽的開幕會上告訴法新社說：「這是季茨的個人表白。母親在他六歲時過世，而他還在調適面對母親離世。」
Photos: AFP照片：法新社
三十七歲的季茨以灰色的骨灰描繪畫中人物的臉部輪廓，配以黑色背景，創作出十九幅肖像。
瞿曲卡表示：「這些肖像皆屬純潔，沒有什麼駭人的內容可言。」他補充說捷克於一九六○年代，即有藝術家以人類骨灰為創作媒材。
瞿曲卡表示，這些肖像「並非是演員或這類特定人士。他們都是季茨所選的人物─因為他對他們的故事感興趣。」
宣稱殯儀館內多出的骨灰都被倒進垃圾堆中的這位藝術家，並未現身展覽開幕會上。
該畫廊表示，這些畫作皆為非賣品，並要求這位藝術創作者在展後，虔誠地將這些骨灰撒在神聖之處。
季茨是富爭議「百堆屎」（或譯為「脫穎而出」）藝術團體的成員，該團曾在二○○七年，因為透過公營電視台，將一處遊覽勝地的畫面和核爆影像重疊播出，隨即一炮而紅。
（法新社／翻譯：林亞蒂）
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