photography, foto, fotografie, umelecká fotografia. Umelecké fotografie dvoch fotografov. Ich výtvarné fotografie zaujmú svojou provokatívnou farebnosťou. Divák má pocit, že to už ani nie je fotografia. Zdá sa to neuveriteľné, ale tieto fotografie sú zhotovené klasickou cestou vo ručne fotokomore. Fotografujú.

The main characteristics of the works of Laco Cellar and Ivan Vaclavik is the piling up of meanings, emerging as a result of interconnecting, overlapping and superimposing of - on one hand - traditional and on the other hand recent associations of meanings of symbols and picture compositions they are photographing. Piling up of real objects, plastic works and paintings and their transformation into the final shape happens before and during their work with a negative. Sometimes, the result is a realistic representation, sometimes, it resembles an abstract composition. However, the "abstract" images never have only a decorative function and "art for art's sake" conception, and the "realistic" ones are not easily understood on the base of perceiving depicted real objects only. Each member of these two groups balances on the edge of real and fictive, thus creating the richly structured composition where its content emerges from an interplay of meanings, representing the "thrown glove" for us (The Thrown Glove being also the title of one of their photographs). Sometimes, the authors respect the traditional context and iconography of the theme (Fenix, The Golden Fish, Quichot, The Tree of Life), sometimes, they encourage their more radical transformation (The Birth of Venus, The Third Eye, The Apple of Quarrel). In spite of the concrete themes of their artworks, they often lead the viewer toward wider philosophical considerations. Even the fact, that they work as a couple (but signing their photographs by both names merged into one) can be interpreted as a conscious sign of overlapping of their creative intentions. They seem not to consider important to determine creative input of each of them. What matters is the content of the works as well as the message. To put it into the postmodern theoretical context, Čellár a Václavík participate in deconstruction of the modern idea of an autonomous and sovereign artist - the creator of original work characterized by experimentation with an expressive potential of means of fine art, and governed by an idea of novelty. According to many of the recent theoreticians, a concept of formal novelty belongs to the past; art should not be considered as a new expression of the creative potentials of the author's subjectivity, and the development of art should not be explained as a linear movement of continuous innovations. On the contrary, as Giovanni Vattimo claims: what seems to be recent in time and new in form (in the artworld and history) cannot inevitably be topical and meaningful, and what seems to be old (in time and form) can show itself as the most topical and with deep sense. Thus, the classical view of the art development is changed, and the return of old styles, forms and symbols is welcomed. Paul Ricoeur adds, that the matter of arts is not to be an individual creation but to represent the significant sense, the symbol, and the feast, because they are able to connect the community and to guarantee its duration in time. The artworks of Čellár and Václavík correspond with these principles: they are inspired by different mythological traditions (Slavonic: The Unicorn, Egyptian: Fenix, Grecian: Danae, The Apple of Quarrel, The Birth of Venus, Indian: The Third Eye), they use Christian subjects (The Tree of Knowledge, The Anonymous Prey), fairy-tales (The Golden Fish), and art history themes (The Homage to Jesenin, Quichot), as well as those from other cultures (The Shaman, The Corrida). The strong philosophical inclination of their creativity together with the reduction of the images to symbols, often displayed in the hints and thus enabling their multiple interpretations confirm clear-cut artistic program of the authors. The usage of symbols with their double structure - visible shape and the hidden rich meaning structure behind it - is a distinctive feature of their artworks. It allows them to unify visible and invisible, shown and hidden, determined and vague, obvious and mysterious aspects of life. Symbols are rooted in our ontological experience with the world, they are interwoven into our very being. That is the reason why we cannot understand the symbols by our language competency only; without going through some existential experiences; it is even possible that we might never be able to grasp the symbolical meaning of many things and symbols around us. This holds also true for the artworks of Čellár and Václavík - their photographs call for our understanding not only through our knowledge of mythological and historical sources, but also through deep living experiences: a mystic silence emanating into an empty space from an empty cup (The Quiet); an unbearable feeling that the world in our head multiply itself without control in such a way that it leads into the break of its closed place (The Migraine); an indifferent relation of the things to human fate (The Undelivered Letter); the fragility of a newborn bird baby (Fenix); the boldness of the human being encountering the fire (Quichot); the feeling of an organic unity of the human being and the nature, either with the tree (The Anonymous Prey ) or water (The Water Man)...These experiences enable authors to adopt the critical attitude toward many aspects of our contemporary life. However, their critique is not an explicit one, obvious at the first sight; it hints at deeper level because it is a critique of the basic paradigm of our recent existence - dualistic division of the modern human being. The photographs of Čellár and Václavík make us doubt about the dualistic and linear logic of the modern times, and they offer us to connect with the deeper and the older logic, the logic of cyclic and circular world movement. According to it, life and death, soul and body, visible and invisible are not dividable, they live together and meet each other in a certain point - much alike paths in a labyrinth or a snake Uroboros biting his own tail. The principle of circularity and cyclical movement is closely connected with that of the center: many of the photographs of Čellár and Václavík have cyclical structure with the center axis often marked by the light. Precisely this point attracts out attention and draws us into the inner space of the picture. And the process of meditation on the photographs can begin...