Unity in diversity - Limited Edition 2 of 10 Photograph

Zdeněk Sokol Photographer's journey Zdeněk Sokol is a photographer who has been circling around the same topics for over 30 years, but he depicts them in various ways and means. The essentials lay beyond his images: the contemplation of the essence of myths and archetypes to which we must (or simply can) relate our own existence. His early works deal with the topic of myth from the positions shared with the whole collective of the now legendary group Brotherhood, rejecting the distinction of individual authorship, so that the whole collective dealt with “a kind of idea of ​​essential essence” (Pavel Jirásek). Sokol's photographs from this period are characterized by allegorical, often biblical narrative, blending romanticism with decadence. The following series L.a.m.b continues as a diploma thesis at FAMU in Prague, but it is still also presented in a group context. The mysticism of the Brotherhood meets here the heritage of Czech Surrealism, where delusional organisms offer a plethora of frighteningly and grotesquely familiar expressions and grimaces. The wild period of the 1990s eventually led Sokol to commercial photography, in which he was extremely successful until 1999, when tiredness and a growing stereotype brought him back to spiritual life and artistic expression. The Remix series (2006) is already inspired by the new digital and accelerated era: it is based on colour and fast, often blurry footage, accompanied by authorial film, performance and installation. The pursuit of complexity and concentration, which at the same time leaves the viewer a very open possibility of interpretation, culminates in another series: A Night With Them (2011), which depicts spirituality as solely abstract hints. The latest of Sokol’s series, called in fact logically The Beginning (2017), is branched into two projects: the first seeks in the classic studio portrait the spirituality of each of us, the fleetingly divine in human existence. The concurrent series Angels on My Way openly endorses the romantic landscape painting, which does not resist the fairy tale connotations of the spiritual journey and is an expression of the joy of safety and harmony.