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For more than one decade, the landscape of the Jeseník Mountains (High Ash Mountains) has been to Jiří M. Doležel a space in which he has found reconciliation with the often-hostile outer world, peace of mind and reassurance. The artist knows all too well that it takes more than a few random outings to get acquainted with a landscape so as to be able to capture its image. He keeps coming back to places once discovered many times, during different seasons of year and in different light conditions, only to find something new, appealing, previously unseen.

In recent years Jiří has focused on water, specifically Jeseník Mountains’ streams. It is only logical, as their scenery is so tempting. A careful observer and great connoisseur of the surrounding landscape, Jiří is aware that water is the beginning and essence of everything; an element that can neither be seized nor stopped. With its ever-changing appearance, water creates a living scenery – and only photography is capable of capturing elusive moments of light vibrations and vanishing impressions reflected on the surface. A resulting photograph may be an abstract image but is far from being virtual reality, an engineered picture processed on a computer. Jiří only captures the images he is able to see by himself, in the real-life nature, at real spots the exact location of which he never discloses.

No modern temptations and influences stand between the artist and the nature, leading him astray. There is nothing but the landscape and her photographer. He contemplates the nature and its implication on our lives, wishing that we could see it in his photographs such as it is. Meanwhile the streams of the Jeseník Mountains are looking for their way – their motion is natural, patient and elusive. This, too, is a message of photographs taken by Jiří M. Doležel.

Water flows. – PANTA RHEI. – Everything flows. And so does time.

I deeply appreciate Jiří Doležel’s photographs. They portray the atmosphere of the Jeseníky countryside with excellence.These images evoke many feelings: Feelings of tenderness, of nostalgia, of mystery.

Such is the landscape of the Jeseníky Mountains.