Pincushions (daily voodoo)

The series of objects by Jiří Černický titled Pincushions (daily voodoo) are small appliqués resembling pincushions, attached to walls, tiles, or home utensils. In making these objects, which are situated somewhere in between handicraft and high art, the author was inspired by quotidian situations, often photographed and then serving as models for the patchwork compositions.

The scenes presented by Černický are just as prosaic as the objects: their characters are seen doing their washing, taking care of their physiological needs or smoking cigarettes out on the balcony. Many of them carry a hidden message about human behaviour or specific social phenomena, if only to mention the homeless man sleeping on a bench, who is at the same time “invisible” and notoriously present. He is not begging, actually he is not doing anything – just sleeping on the bench – he is not breaking the law but, at the same time, he is unpleasantly invading the space of others.

Černický’s anthropomorphic Pincushions (daily voodoo) are disturbing, their suggestive title evokes concepts of dolls representing actual people, voodoo rituals and images of black magic made popular by horror films. The needles stuck in the objects only reinforce the suggestion. The first work from the series – the “cushion” presenting the father of the artist – originates from the crisis his family had experienced: the everyday and never-ending fights between his mother and father. Černický gave the appliqué presenting his father to his mother so that she could use it according to its purpose. What is symptomatic, is that the suggestive power of the object was so strong that the mother refused to accept the present, despite the fact that the continuous quarrels created a risk of much more serious consequences than the harmless use of needles. The work, which was created out of the artist’s personal problems, became not only their materialization. It also introduced a distance which the actual life lacked. Owing to their inconspicuous form, Pincushions (daily voodoo) offer a side perspective of human relations, both in the scale of the family, as well as in a broader social perspective.

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