Main Building, Exhibition Hall, 2nd floor: Elsewhen by Alexandra Mitlyanskaya, a retrospective exhibition of video works by Moscow-based artist.
Alexandra Mitlyanskaya’s work oscillates between a static shot and a moving image. It shows either a process slowed down to the extreme or a reiteration of a short, although intense and dynamic cycle. While one can hardly sense the presence of the camera (and thus the artist), the video might even carry an illusion that it is the real world the viewer sees, open to them alone. On the other hand, such images are precise mirrors of the mind: it is exactly this way they swarm around in our heads or obtain a barely animated state of being. Each time, this seemingly simple video demonstrates a miracle of transmutation of matter of various human feelings and states of being into visual forms of the surrounding world. As a result, the protomatter of art is synthesized, accumulating the very special air of that part of the limbo which is only made up of aesthetic fluid.
Main Building, Exhibition Hall, 3rd floor: In Private. The world of pure contemplation by Anatoly Cherkasov (through 08.04.2018)
Anatoly Cherkasov uses platinotype technique to convey the beauty of pristine nature. The series is not devoted to any particular country or region; one can see here Russian landscapes side by side with exotic views of Nepal and Japan. Works by Cherkasov are not like bland postcard views, on the contrary, they are distinguished by a meaningful study of the form. Following the steps of such Russian realist painters as Isaac Levitan, Ilya Shishkin, and Arkhip Kuindzhi, Anatoly Cherkasov rejects stylization; in his photographs, we encounter “the world of pure contemplation” evoking thoughts about the brevity of human life as opposed to timeless nature.
The history of the platinotype technique dates back to over a hundred years ago. Among the masters of photography who used platinum and palladium process are such prominent names as Frederick Evans, Edward Weston, and Irving Penn. Even today, many photographers experiment with platinotype, although only a few choose this laborious photographic process as their signature technique as it demands a lot of patience, special knowledge, and a particular sensitivity to the material. Prints made in this technique aesthetically encompass image colour, depth, and tactile qualities offering a rich and uniquely long tonal range. This effect is produced by the use of platinum and palladium.
Main Building, Exhibition Hall, 3rd floor: Letters to Tarkovsky. Interpretation of the timeless by Anita Hamremoen (through 01.04.2018)
Anita Petra Hamremoen (born 1966, Sandnes, Norway) is an artist who mainly works with the medium of photography. In her work, she explores themes such as Time, Universality and Stillness by going into natural landscapes, as well as the landscapes of the mind, bringing us into a timeless and unspecified world. Rather than presenting us with concrete places and temporalities, her photographs could have been taken anywhere at any time.
In her series Poetica, Anita Petra Hamremoen obliterates time. She interprets the timeless, making us enter a meditative state. Her works are perceived as if they were created by a single movement of the camera. The artist was greatly influenced by Andrei Tarkovsky’s films, his attitudes, and images of his characters.
Sombre light, barren trees, horses, fire, water, and human beings in an authentic state and in a natural landscape — these are some of the characteristics Anita Hamremoen has taken from the world of Tarkovsky and moulded into her own vision. She dedicates her works to the great director, as if sending a silent message into the past — and to all of us.
This series includes works that were selected the Director’s Choice at the Nordic Light International Festival of Photography in 2014.
More information at http://rosphoto.org/
Information
ROSPHOTO
Bol'shaya Morskaya Ulitsa, 35, Saint Petersburg, Russia, 190000
March 07, 2018 to May 06, 2018
