Jan Tyniec
Jan Tyniec, Bonsai, 2009 neg 222630.2.9. 20 x 16, edition 4/16, silver gelatin print on fiber, full matte paper
Jan Tyniec, Bonsai, 2009 neg.222630.1.5, 20 x 16, edition 4/15, silver gelatin print on fiber full matte paper.
Jan Tyniec, Bonsai, 2012, neg 329317.2.18, 20 x 16, silver gelatin print on fiber full matte paper.
Jan Tyniec, Bonsai 2009, neg.222630.1.4, 20 x 16, silver gelatin print on fiber full matte paper.
Jan Tyniec, Bonsai, 40 x 40, edition 2/6, Archivial Giclee print on synthetic silk.
Jan Tyniec, Bonsai,2009 neg 222630.2.12, 20 x 16 edition 4/15, silver gelatin print on fiber full matte paper.
Artist Statement
In my works I have been avoiding storytelling and references of scale and time in order to unravel meaning. I remain most interested in exploring the relationships between culture and nature, or document (the perception of the real) and artifice (the deception of reality).
Photography allows me to create the most straightforward, yet highly personal images of water, sky, land, the lotus flower or a person within the context of landscape, beliefs and most importantly myth.
My work process is very emotional and often challenging as I aim to establish a most intimate relationship and understanding of the subject.
Artist Resume / Curriculum Vitae
Born in 1960 in Warsaw, Poland, Jan Tyniec received MFA degrees from the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw and Hunter College in New York. Between 1986 and 2005 he lived and worked in New York City. Currently he lives in Pike County, Pennsylvania and Bali, Indonesia. In recent years the artist traveled extensively to work on photography projects in the US, Indochina, Antarctica, Indonesia and China.
Regarding his Bonsai series, the artist states that: My intension was to create a group of works that are suspended in time, span past and future, with strong references to southeast Asian culture and tradition. Some of my Bonsai images resemble ink drawings (intentionally). It is nature, or idea of nature nurtured by mind and hand, intention and presence. Bonsai is ultimately an exercise in meditation, a way to help understand the beauty and logic of time, and ultimately our mortality. Bonsai symbolizes timeless qualities and extreme fragility at the same time a paradox of life itself. From a more formal point of view, this work is about perception, stepping beyond what can be seen with the naked eye. It is like looking at the Bonsai from within, learning how to see the principles of the universe in a small detail.
Observing Tyniec's work is a dualistic experience. His engaging subjects convey a state of being both solidly rooted in the earth while also being ephemeral and transcendent.