Take French tattoo artist Lionel Fahy, his wife Tal Agam (the couple jointly known as “AgamFahy”), and Czech glass artist Martin Janecký. The resulting combination of works is perhaps most aptly labelled as “tattoo glass.” This AgamFahy infusion of tattoo art ideas into the world of glass comes courtesy of one of the most renowned figures in this field, and a pioneer of French New Wave tattoo art. An artistic mismatch? Far from it. Tattooing has long been regarded as a significant contemporary social and cultural phenomenon within the art community, as evident in its inclusion at prestigious global visual art events such as the Venice Biennale. Yet, despite such recognition, tattooed glass is nonetheless still presented as being essentially banal, replicating the kind of displays we see on human skin, in this case merely transposed onto common mass-produced glass. One could interpret such a transference as a marketing trick, merely designed to attract fans of tattooing and in the process to sell countless extra units of utility drinking and decorative glassware.
Which helps explain why this show avoided any title along these lines. In the context of the Agam-Fahy-Janecký trio’s work, this represents a stark contrast: the production of singular art pieces versus the development of innovative forms of bespoke glass art. This includes studio glass that emanates both aesthetic significance and artistic meaning. The unique works are the result of a confluence of collaboration between three individual artists. All three of these professionals chose to step out of their comfort zones for the sheer thrill of taking up a new challenge. Which helps to explain why they act as artistic pioneers in the new fields of expression that they encounter. The standard, albeit ever more eccentric tattooing, as seen daily on the bodies of an increasing number of our fellow citizens, are a far cry from the experimentation evident in the works of this creative trio. This is a form of independent creative thinking that unifies a tattoo artist, a designer, and an equally renowned glass artist. The Agam-Fahy-Janecký trio have been personal friends for years, reflecting their generation’s appreciation for punk culture, and the wider artistic output of variegated cultures. They all are visionaries of a sort, breaking through boundaries of conventionality, both in their regular fields of expression, and well as via such pioneering collaborations.
“If you want to keep developing, you need to travel,” explained Lionel Fahy in a video documentary by filmmaker Jan Dufek (Jan Dufek, Lionel Fahy v Praze 2022). This trio certainly more than fulfils that, having travelled half-way round the globe, while also sharing a fondness for the Czech capital, Prague – where one of them lives permanently, while the other two have visited a dozen times. Indeed, travel is also responsible for the trio’s ultimate collaboration.
The initial encounter took place when Martin Janecký was living and working in Alaska. During their second meeting in Paris, they made a promise to collaborate someday. Even though they saw each other relatively frequently during the intervening years, it wasn’t until a decade later that the trio actively commenced work on a specific project at Janecký’s studio in Prague. The resulting works derive from hand-drawn sketches by Fahy, which Janecký then cleverly transposes into a three-dimensional form. The art objects have generated real value, both in terms of creative output, as well as glass artistry. After all, transposing sketches onto glass requires both exquisite craftsmanship and creative vision. All three of these artists collaborate in symphony to produce the ultimate result. Cultivated personal relationships, coupled with a merging of artistic minds, has led to works that exude a kind of apocalyptic dreamlike vision spanning many cultures – leading to the creation of visual epics, and even psychedelic visions, where dreams stand above reality, and where dreams unveil more than the real world ever could.
„Pokud se chcete rozvíjet, musíte cestovat.“ říká Lionel Fahy ve videu, které o něm natočil Jan Dufek (Jan Dufek, Lionel Fahy v Praze 2022). Tvůrci tuto tezi více než naplňují, sjezdili půlku zeměkoule, milují Prahu, v níž jeden žije trvale a druzí dva ji navštívili více než desetkrát. Nakonec cestování tuto součinnost zahájilo. Poprvé se setkali, když Martin Janecký pracoval a žil na Aljašce. Při druhém setkání v Paříži si slíbili, že budou jednou spolupracovat. I když se viděli i potom, k této tvorbě došlo až nyní, tj. po 10 letech v Janeckého studiu v Praze. Je samozřejmé, že směr projektu určují kresby, zatímco Janecký geniálně převádí tyto 2-D vize do 3-D formy. A tím má na výsledku velký podíl nejen z hlediska sklářského řemesla, ale i kreativní složky, protože převedení náčrtu do skla vyžaduje nejen řemeslnou ekvilibristiku, ale i finální výtvarnou vizi. V ní se všichni tři nemají problém setkat. Na základě osobních poznání a nastavení, se jim v myšlení řetězí apokalyptické snové vize mnoha původních kultur a vznikají tak vizuální eposy, až psychedelické vize, kdy je sen postaven nad realitu, nebo o ní vypovídá víc, než ona sama.
Sylva Petrová, kurátorka výstavy
