In his work Jiří Thýn explores the possibilities of photography and tests the boundaries between the photographed and the seen. Though he classifies his photographs into cycles, he does not create large series of pictures on one theme. He uses a cycle as the framework for examining a certain problematic, which he shows from various perspectives. At his exhibitions he combines photographs of various formats with three-dimensional objects and creates a rhythmicised whole, where the interstices intensify the communication. He uncovers photography in order to show what predetermines all work in this medium. In his work the photographic tradition is unobtrusively linked to contemporary post-conceptualism.

In the photographs from the cycle Best Before (2004-5), which address the themes of time, space and intimacy, the captured reality becomes partly a fiction, when a person is transferred into a headless body and installations are created from everyday items. The author’s intervention clears away redundant information, configures reality and transforms the meaning of the visible.

In the photographic cycle All the Best (2005-6) the author reveals the transitory nature of our existence through an examination of age, fading beauty and transience.

Jiří Thýn builds the photographic image. He does not enrich reality through a simple selection of perspective, but creates a targeted new reality. In Still Lives from 2007 he systematically searched for the ideal composition, spending fourteen days photographing items on a desk, in order finally to select two pictures (Composition No. 17 and Composition No. 27, 2007).

He continued to work with space in the collection 4 Corners of the Hilton Hotel (2008), which he created for an exhibition in the Etc. Gallery. Taking pictures of all four corners of the building meant photography of the otherwise elusive three-dimensionality of the building, which paradoxically is totally flattened out in individual pictures and is only present in them thanks to our experience with space.

In 2009 at the Hunt Kastner Gallery Thýn exhibited a large object reminiscent of a billboard with the words “Downfall of the West, Lost Contact with the East”, in which the gallery is mirrored. In these photographs (inter alia from the cycle So Sad in These Luxurious Times, 2008-9) he develops the theme of the mirroring of reality and continued his research into the (im)possibility of capturing reality in photography.

In the cycle 50% Grey he subjects photography to a wide variety of tests and arrives at works which no longer offer information as to what is displayed in them but instead recount by what means they reveal the medium of photography. The black and white photograms presented at exhibitions along with the original coloured glass matrix (Positive Negative, 2009) and striped trials blown up on baryte paper are dealt with using principles analogous to photography.

Jiří Thýn also worked with the symmetrical relationship of positive and negative in a project for Gask Art Fest, as part of which he organised a concert at which a Bach organ concerto was played using a mirrored rewritten score (Reversed Harmony, 2009).

Studies:
1999–2005 Vysoká škola uměleckoprůmyslová v Praze, fotografický ateliér prof. Pavla Štechy
1998 / 99 ITF - Slezská Univerzita v Opavě, obor fotografie

Residencies:
2008 FONCA, Mexico City
2007 PROGR, rezidenční pobyt, Bern
2003 UIAH University Helsinky, ateliér fotografie
2002 / 2003 AVU Praha, ateliér malby prof. Vladimíra Skrepla a Jiřího Kovandy

2011
Archetypy, prostor, abstrakce, GHMP, Staroměstská radnice, Praha

2010
Jiří Thýn, amt_project, Bratislava, SK Between Circles, BKC, Gallery of Young Artists, Galerie u dobrého Pastýře, Brno, CZ Photography, Moravian Gallery, Atrium, Brno, CZ
G207, Praha
Fotografie, Moravská galerie v Brně

2009
Bez názvu, Galerie NF, Ústí nad Labem
Less, Galerie HuntKastner, Praha
50% Šedá, Galerie 35m2, Praha
Nic z toho co víme nezůstane bez odplaty, M.odla, Praha

2008
4 rohy hotelu Hilton, Etc. galerie, Praha

2006
All the best, Ateliér Josefa Sudka, Praha
THIS POINT..., Preproduction Gallery, Berlin-Wedding, Berlín

2003
Local Territory/Místní území, Galerie CO14, Praha

2002
Místa ticha pro moji sestru, Galerie Francouzského Institutu, Praha

2011
Sculpture in the Street III, curated by Karel Císář, organized by DUMB: Brno House of Art, streets and public spaces in Brno, CZ (Jun 4- Aug 28)
6th New Zlín Salon, Zlín Regional Gallery, Zlin, CZ
Skutr III, 3rd Biennale of Young Artists, curated by Vladimír Beskid, Kopplova Villa GJK, Trnava, SK
Turned Down, Wannieck Gallery, Brno, CZ
Mutating Medium, Photography in Czech Art 1990-2010, curated by Pavel Vančat, Galerie Rudofinum, Prague, CZ

2010
And Don't Forget the Flowers, curated by Yvona Ferencová, Moravian Gallery, Brno, CZ ParisPhoto, hunt kastner, Paris, FR
Ears Like Loops, curated by Edita Jeřabková, Zona sztuki aktualnej, Lodz, PL 7th Biennale of Young Artists, curated by Tomas Pospiszyl, Prague City Gallery, House of the Stone Bell, Prague, CZ
Ego / Portrait x Photography, curated by Robert Novák & Pavel Turek, Langhans Gallery, Prague, CZ
The Collectors, The Czechoslovak Pavilion, curated by Lucia Drdová & Martin Mazánec, Brot Kunsthalle, Vienna, AU HotLine, curated by Jan Zalesák, Vaclav Špála Gallery, Prague, CZ
Dividing Line, curated by Jiří Machalicky, NoD Experimental Space, Prague, CZ
50% Grey: Contemporary Czech Photography Reconsidered, MoCP - Museum of Contemporary Photography, curated by Karel Císář & Karen Irvine, Chicago, IL, USA
Everyday(s), curated by Fabienne Bernadini and An Schlitz, Casino Luxembourg, forum d'art contemporain, Luxembourg
Art To Date, curated by Zuzana Štefková, NoD Experimental Space, Prague, CZ
After Velvet, curated by Sandra Baborovská & Karel Srp, Prague City Gallery at the House of the Golden Ring, Prague, CZ

2009
Po sametu, GHMP, Praha
Something of Myself: 23 autoportrétů, Hunt Kastner Artworks, Praha
Reversed Harmony, GASK Art Fest, Kutná Hora
Historická práce, Galerie Václava Špály, Praha
White Paper Black Bride, PRAGUE BIENALE 4, Praha
Psychologie budoucnosti, Galerie AM 180, Praha
Cargo, Moskva

2008
Gallery by Night, Studio of Young Artist, Budapešť
Tichá dohoda, Galerie Šternberk, Šterberk
Obrazy slov, letohrádek Hvězda, Praha
Současný český kubismus, GHMP, Staroměstská radnice, Praha

2007
Vylepšený model, kulhavý efekt, Roxy/NoD, Praha
Glocal Outsiders, PRAGUE BIENALE 3, Praha
Šestka/Šest českých fotografických škol, PHP, Praha
I Don’t Wanna Talk, České centrum, Moskva

2006
ÚČEL, galerie AVU, (se skupinou Ládví), Praha
INDIKACE,4+4 dny v pohybu, Praha
THIS POINT..., Preproduction Gallery Berlin-Weding, Berlín
Land Locked, Well Gallery, London College of Communication, Londýn
Věcné stavy, Karlin Studios, Praha

2005
Udělali jsme téměř všechno, Entrance Gallery (s D. Langem), Praha
Zahrada, 6. ročník fotografického festivalu Funkeho Kolín
Enviromental, Galerie AM 180 (s D. Skalou)
VOYEUR (Iniciativa pro fotografii, vizuální kulturu a životní styl), VŠUP

2004
NO.7 Design blok botel Neptun, ve spolupráci s organizací Tranzit , Praha
1+1, Galerie Jelení (s A. Svobodovou), Praha
PRIVATE EVOLUTION, galerie VŠUP, Praha

2003
COMPRESSION, Berlin-Wedding, ve spolupráci s Galerií Display
IN/OUT, Festival Digitálního obrazu, Praha
BROUMOVSKé DVORKY (umění ve veřejném prostoru)

2003
VěříME, Galerie 1 VŠUP, Praha

2002
Konfrontace, PHP/ Pražský dům fotografie, Praha
A sakra!, Galerie VŠUP, Praha

1999
STUDIO EMOTION, Praha

UMPRUM
Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago, IL, USA
PPF
Galerie Klatovy / Klenová
private collections

www.artantiques.cz/09/02/0902_soubory/0902portfolio.htm
www.sudek-atelier.cz/new_web/vystavy_realizovane/vyst_thyn.html
www.moravska-galerie.cz/cs/vystavy/jiri-thyn/
www.pragueout.cz/articles/jiri-thyn
kultura.dama.cz/clanek.php?d=6501